The Biter Bit
by AHighAndLonesomeSound
Summary: It's the morning after Ginny and Ron's fight in Half-Blood Prince, and she can't concentrate in DADA class. Unfortunately, that means she incurs the wrath of Snape. But somebody in the class has had enough of Snape's bullying and decides to take a stand. No longer a one-shot, and spinning out from HBP into something AU and silly. Harry/Luna.
1. The Biter Bit

**The Biter Bit**

"_The trouble with witches is that they'll never run away from things they really hate. And the trouble with small furry animals in a corner is that, just occasionally, one of them's a mongoose."_

Terry Pratchett – _Witches Abroad_

Ginny Weasley was exhausted. Exhausted and upset and angry. Last night had been the worst – no, the second worst, there had been that awful one last year just after Harry had been banned for life by Umbridge, the day of his disastrous date with Cho – Quidditch practice in years, and to top it all off Ron had decided to pick a fight with her afterwards because he had walked in on her snogging Dean. She wasn't sure what had been the worst part of that fight: the things he had said to her, the things she had said to him, or the look on poor Harry's face as he stood between his best friend and his (in Katie's enforced absence) prize Chaser, trying to stop them from fighting. At one point he had even had to pin Ron to a wall to stop him jinxing her. Having got in one particularly harsh dig at Ron's lack of experience with girls, Ginny had stormed off to bed, feeling close to tears. She had barely slept a wink all night, wavering between being too upset to sleep and too busy fuming and thinking of things she should have said to Ron to even consider resting. The upshot was that she was sitting in her DADA class with the other Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fifth-years, barely able to focus.

Of course, it's always a bad idea not to concentrate in a class taught by Severus Snape.

"Miss Weasley, if you could honour us for your attention for a few seconds, you are supposed to have opened your textbook on page three hundred and ninety-four. We are discussing the effects of a Dementor attack and how to best treat them."

_Chocolate, duh_, thought Ginny, but she dutifully muttered an apology and opened her book. Snape walked closer to her desk.

"You know, Miss Weasley, you may think that your membership of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the favour of a few teachers" – contempt for the Slug Club positively dripped from that phrase – "and above all else your family's connection to the _famous_ Harry Potter might grant you a certain… leeway. Let me assure you that this is not the case. To me, you are just like any other student. In fact, you are a student who has shown a certain aptitude, perhaps even raw talent, for defensive magic, but chooses to waste her time, energy and skill chasing after boys and showing off on the Quidditch pitch. I frankly do not care what you got up to last night, why you're so _tired_. Your inattention is unacceptable and you will be punished if it continues."

Ginny's cheeks burned at what Snape was implying. How _dare_ he? She wanted to hit him. Or hex him. She bent her head over her book, glancing around surreptitiously at the rest of the class. One or two were looking at Snape, wondering what would happen next, but most had their heads down, concentrating on their work, just glad he wasn't picking on them. Then she spotted Luna, sitting down the back of the class on her own. She was frowning at the professor, absent-mindedly playing with a Galleon she was holding in her hand.

"Tell me, Miss Weasley," continued Snape, "you _are_ aware that the Dark Lord has allied himself with the Dementors of Azkaban? How do you intend to protect yourself from them if you cannot even pay attention in my classes? Will you wave your broom at them? Or do you expect Potter to save your life every time you mess up and get in over your head? Sometimes I think you're as dim-witted as Longbottom."

The snide dig at her possession by Tom Riddle was the last straw. Ginny looked up from her book, glaring at Snape, and spat "I can produce a _fully corporeal Patronus_, as well you know."

Snape smirked.

"Detention, Miss Weasley. That is no way to address a teacher. You're as arrogant as Potter and your brother."

Ginny lowered her eyes, furious with herself for rising to the bait, when she heard Luna's voice.

"Excuse me… Professor Snape?"

Snape spun around.

"Yes, Miss Lovegood? Do you have a question about the chapter?"

"Um… no, Professor. I just wanted to say something. You do know that you're one of the best Defence teachers we've had? I mean… after Umbridge, that's not hard, but you teach us a lot of useful things and I believe you're really very clever."

Snape looked momentarily flabbergasted, but quickly regained his composure.

"Thank you, Miss Lovegood, but do you have a point?"

Luna stood up, still clutching the Galleon in one hand.

"Yes, Professor. I rather think I do. Um… you're always very hard on Harry Potter and his friends. I know, Harry is quite hot-headed and doesn't always think things through very well, but he _is_ very brave and has faced He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named many times. And he stuck to the truth last year when hardly anybody believed him, even when Umbridge was torturing him. He formed Dumbledore's Army because Umbridge wouldn't teach us, you know that. He was _the_ best Defence teacher Ginny and I ever had, and it was he that taught us how to produce Patronuses. And… um… Ginny isn't wasting her talent. She doesn't seem to be paying much attention today, but it's hardly her fault if a Wrackspurt has got to her, and last year she went to the Department of Mysteries with Harry, Ronald and Hermione Granger, and she fought Death Eaters there. I was there too. So was Neville, who you're always so hard on, and he got his nose broken so badly that he couldn't say spells, so he took down a Death Eater with his bare hands. These are the people you're calling hopeless."

Everyone in the class was staring at Luna. Ginny was sure this was the most she had ever seen Luna say during a lesson.

"Miss Lovegood, I do not care what anyone has done or how _famous_ they are, they still have to pay attention when I am teaching them. Now, take my advice and _sit down_."

Luna nodded vaguely, but remained standing.

"You're right, of course. Nobody should get special treatment."

Snape smirked, clearly feeling that he had somehow 'won' the argument.

"So… tell me, Professor, what about Draco Malfoy and his friends? Hexing people on the corridors, calling people 'Mudblood', cheering on the Heir of Slytherin… and last year, they acted as Umbridge's personal enforcers and bullied _everyone_ in the school. So why are they your favourites? Is it because they're in Slytherin? Last year Harry Potter was tortured by Umbridge, fought a group of Death Eaters and then duelled Bellatrix Lestrange, trained a group of his fellow-students and kept trying to warn the wizarding world of the danger we were in. Draco Malfoy hexed first years for fun because he had a little silver badge with an 'I' on it. So what makes Harry the arrogant one?"

"Miss Lovegood –" snapped Snape, but she interrupted him.

"Oh, and he did that rather excellent interview with Rita Skeeter that Daddy published. That relaunched Rita's career, you know." She smiled serenely, "I suspect she owes Daddy a favour, and she is such a nosy woman. She was always trying to find juicy new stories about what goes on in Hogwarts…"

Ginny gaped, thinking _did Luna just seriously threaten Snape?_ If she felt confused, Snape looked even worse. He was not accustomed to being interrupted in class, that was certain. He took a deep breath.

"Miss Lovegood," he said icily, his voice barely above a whisper, "do you really think that a fifteen-year-old girl who believes in _Nargles_ –"

Luna cut him off again.

"You're about to be scathing, aren't you Professor? Like I said, you are very clever, and you seem quite quick-witted too. So why do you seek validation from using your vast reserves of wit on kids? A few minutes ago, you were casting aspersions on a fifteen-year-old girl's love life! You pick on Neville for not being very good at classwork, but you pick on Hermione for being smart. I know she's a bit close-minded, but she works very hard. You hate Harry for being famous when all he wants is to be normal, and you're picking on Ginny because she's his friend. Why? Is your self-esteem so low that you feel better about yourself for humiliating teenagers? Or perhaps your brain has become infested with Homblees. They can make even the nicest person inexplicably angry."

Ginny was astonished. She had got used to Luna suddenly returning from whatever planet her mind was currently occupying and coming out with some observation that cut right to the heart of an issue, but that was usually with Ron or Harry, not with a teacher and certainly not with Snape. She risked a glance at the professor. His face had gone so pale it was as if all the blood had drained from it, and he looked as though he had been slapped.

"DETENTION, MISS LOVEGOOD!" he bellowed, "DETENTION FOR THE NEXT MONTH!"

"I don't think that would be a good idea," said Luna dreamily, pocketing the Galleon and picking up her bag and textbook. "I think I'm going to go and talk to Professor Dumbledore now; I'm sure he will listen to my complaints. I don't know the password for his office, so I'll stop and ask Harry along the way. He has a Charms lesson with Professor Flitwick, my head of house. I might have a nice chat with him too, I do like Professor Flitwick. And then I might owl Daddy. You're a teacher, Professor. You're supposed to look after your students, even the ones you don't like."

She was almost at the door when Snape twitched, his hand reaching under his robes for his wand. Luna stopped, standing in the doorway, and turned around to face him.

"Umbridge never did work out how the DA members were communicating, did she? Nobody did, not even Professor Dumbledore. The thing was, nobody knew how they got messages to each other, but somehow they always knew when one of the group was in trouble, and they always stayed two steps ahead of the Ministry. So I don't think it would be a very good idea to try to stop me from going to visit Professor Dumbledore, do you?"

She beamed at her fellow-students, and skipped out of the door.

**A/N: I was taking part in a forum conversation in The Teachers' Lounge last night where we were discussing Snape's behaviour as compared with the actions of other bullied outcasts in the series (Wormtail, Luna, Neville, Harry…) when sfjoellen said "There is a good short story in Luna and Snape throwing down. I've got five on Luna." This fic sprang into my head fully-formed, as JKR would say. It was somewhat inspired by Ron standing up to Snape in DADA class in **_**Prisoner**_**, and partly by the quote from **_**Witches Abroad**_** (which I reread last week) that I used as the epigraph for this. It's just a silly little one-shot, drawing on Luna's canon tendency towards unexpected bluntness. Let me know what you think! And yes, the Galleon Luna is playing with is her DA Galleon.**

**A/N Part 2: I _do_ seem to be developing a thing for Luna getting in a clever parting shot while standing in a doorway. Hmmm... I must find a way of working such a scene into _Harry Potter and the Second War_... :P Also, I think I'll write a one-shot soon with Luna having a bonkers moment in it. Luna's bonkers moments are always fun...**


	2. A Couple Of Conversations

**A Couple of Conversations**

"_At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies."_

P.G. Wodehouse – _Uneasy Money_

Luna wandered along the corridor towards Professor Flitwick's classroom. She wondered vaguely whether or not she had done the right thing by telling Snape what she felt about his teaching methods. There was the possibility he might take it out on the rest of the group. Poor Ginny had seemed most distracted. Perhaps it was merely Wrackspurts, but she resolved to talk to the girl later and see if anything was bothering her. Ginny had looked out for Luna since their first year, so Luna was always happy to return the favour. It had been very mean of Snape to suggest Ginny had been up all night because she had a boyfriend: even in the – in Luna's opinion – unlikely event that he was right, that was no reason to humiliate her. It was funny, really. Everybody knew that Snape was a bully, but he was tolerated by most people. Professor Dumbledore employed him, after all. Even Harry. Harry and Snape hated each other. That was like saying the sky was blue, and apparently it had been that way since Harry's first Potions class. But Luna had had all summer – not to mention a couple of interesting conversations with Ginny – to ponder Harry's cryptic message to Snape when Umbridge had caught the DA breaking into her office, and it seemed clear that Snape was in the Order of the Phoenix and Harry had decided to trust him with the news of his vision of Sirius.

Sirius… she had spoken to her father about that, had told him that she had met Sirius Black and, while he was innocent, he wasn't Stubby Boardman. Xenophilius had explained that while he was upset that the story had been completely made up, it was still worthwhile having run it because it had raised legitimate questions around Black's arrest. Besides, as Luna knew, if every seemingly crazy story was ignored because it didn't fit with people's beliefs, people missed out on a lot of interesting truths. That was Hermione Granger's problem. The girl was very clever, and devoured books, but she didn't have an open mind. Her ideas about House Elves _were_ very interesting, it had to be said. That reminded her of that fact that apparently Harry knew a free House Elf. Maybe he could introduce her.

Luna looked up to admire the light coming through a big stained-glass window and realised that she had been so busy thinking that she had walked right past the Charms classroom. She turned around and retraced her steps and was soon knocking on the door, which was opened by Neville Longbottom.

"Hello, Neville," she said, happy to see another friend, "is Professor Flitwick there?"

"Yes, yes, Miss Lovegood, come in!" squeaked Flitwick happily from behind Neville. He was Luna's favourite teacher, and she knew he approved of her because she was quite good at practical charms. Her mother had been too, and Luna was proud to have inherited those skills.

She looked around the classroom, seeing several other familiar faces. Ernie and his Hufflepuff friends were sitting at the back of the room chatting with Dean and Seamus, Lavender and Parvati had their heads together closely, whispering and shooting glances at the front row where Harry was sitting with Ronald and Hermione. She briefly wondered what the two girls were discussing, but that particular train of thought was interrupted by Flitwick asking her why she wasn't in class.

"Um… could I talk to you for a moment, Professor? It's very important. I need to talk to Harry too."

Harry looked up at the mention of his name and grinned at her.

Flitwick looked puzzled, but took Luna over to a corner of the classroom, motioning to Harry to join them.

"Whatever is the matter, Miss Lovegood?" he asked.

Before she could reply, Harry cut in.

"Matter? Is something wrong? Did Malfoy –"

Trying to resist a chuckle at Harry's automatic blaming of Draco Malfoy for everything that went wrong in Hogwarts, Luna gestured for him to be quiet.

"Nothing's wrong with _me_, exactly, although I did just get given a month's worth of detention."

Flitwick looked shocked, but Harry just raised an eyebrow, clearly suspecting that there was more to the story.

"You see," she continued, "Ginny Weasley was a little distracted in class today. I don't know whether it was a Wrackspurt" – she ignored their expressions of amused scepticism – "or tiredness or if something's wrong. But anyway, Professor Snape was absolutely horrid to her. He even suggested that she was tired because she had spent all night with a boy, and he kept saying that she was hopeless and thought she could get away with anything because she's your friend, Harry."

Harry swore.

"Typical Snape, the greasy git!" he glowered.

"Really, Mr Potter!" squeaked Flitwick "You shouldn't talk about your teachers like that!"

"I'm sorry, Professor, but you know how Professor Snape treats me and my friends."

Luna decided to plough on before Harry could start listing every bad thing Snape had done in the past five-and-a-half academic years.

"Anyway, Ginny was really upset and he gave her detention, so then I stood up and told him that he was being a bully. He got very angry, and said he was giving me detention for a month, but I left the classroom to go and talk to Professor Dumbledore. He looked as though he was going to use magic to stop me, but I think I convinced him not to. I had to stop off here though first, because I don't know the password for Professor Dumbledore's office, but I suspect Harry does. And I wanted to tell you what had happened, Professor, because you're my head of house."

Harry looked awestruck. He seemed even more pleased with her than when she had successfully conjured her first Patronus. This made her feel oddly proud. Flitwick smiled at her.

"Well, Miss Lovegood, I think you did the right thing by coming to me. I'll certainly have a word with Professor Snape later."

Harry grinned.

"The password is 'Acid Pops', Luna. Well done, standing up to Snape like that! It's almost lunchtime, would you like me to go with you to Dumbledore's office?"

_That was kind of him_, thought Luna.

"Thank you for offering, Harry, but I'm sure I'll be quite all right by myself. You and Professor Snape don't get on well anyway, there's no point in getting involved in my disagreement with him. Thank you both for letting me interrupt your class, but I should be going now."

Flitwick nodded and moved towards the chattering students at the back of the room. Harry gave her a thumbs-up and returned to his seat, where he immediately started talking animatedly to Neville, Ronald and Hermione. As she was leaving the classroom, Hermione turned around and waved to her. She smiled back, and set off for the Headmaster's office.

* * *

By the time she was walking down the corridor to Professor Dumbledore's office, Luna wasn't feeling quiet as confident. She had never had a one-to-one encounter with the Headmaster before, and while he always seemed very kindly, he was also very old, very wise and very important. But she had come this far, and she had faced worse things, so she squared her shoulders and approached the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the office.

"Hello," she said, sounding more cheerful than she felt, "how are you?"

Her father had told her that there was an academic debate over whether gargoyles should be treated as magical creatures or enchanted objects, but Luna felt that it always paid to be polite. After all, she liked it when people were nice to her.

"What can I do for you, young lady?" replied the gargoyle.

"I'd like to see the Headmaster, if that's alright."

"Well, Miss, I can only let you through if you have the password…"

She smiled.

"Acid Pops, sir."

The door swung open and she mounted the stairs inside, remembering to thank the gargoyle. She reflected that he must feel terribly bored stuck there all the time, and by the time she had completed that thought she was standing outside another door. She knocked on it.

"Come in, Miss Lovegood," called Dumbledore from inside, "the door is unlocked."

She opened the door, disconcerted by the fact that the Headmaster had known it was her knocking, to see Dumbledore sitting at his desk, looking at a silver doe. A Patronus, it seemed, and sure enough it dissolved as she looked at it. That probably explained how he had known she was coming. When she had returned home for the summer and told her father that she could conjure a corporeal Patronus, he had told her that certain skilled witches and wizards could use their Patronuses to deliver messages, and had encouraged her in her ambition to learn how to do so. The doe must have been Snape's Patronus.

"Sit down, Miss Lovegood," smiled Dumbledore, "would you like a sherbert lemon?" He gestured at a packet of sweets on his desk.

She nodded politely and took one. It was delicious.

"Now… Professor Snape informs me that you had a – ahem – run-in with him in your Defence class this morning. Could you tell me what happened?"

"Yes, Headmaster," she began nervously, "he was, um, he was being really horrible to Ginny Weasley. She was having trouble paying attention in class, and he was saying that she must be tired because she was up all night with a boy, and that she was hopeless, and that she relies on Harry Potter to save her when she messes things up."

Dumbledore frowned at that last remark, and she pressed on.

"So, well… I don't like bullies. People laugh at me, you know. They call me 'Loony'. And Ginny has always been so kind to me, and she's very brave. And Professor Snape always picks on people like her and Harry and Neville and Hermione Granger. Nice people. People who are kind to me. So I thought someone should stand up to him. I believe Harry has in the past, but he hates Professor Snape and he can lose his temper very easily. So I thought I should do it. So I did it. And he gave me detention for a month, and then almost pulled out his wand when I left the classroom. So I went and had a nice chat with Harry and Professor Flitwick, and then I came to you."

She was aware that the words had tumbled out of her in a rush; that always happened when she was nervous.

"So… um… I think maybe you need to have a talk with Professor Snape. He can't keep bullying his students."

To her surprise, Dumbledore smiled warmly at her.

"Well, Miss Lovegood, that was certainly very brave of you. I will talk to Professor Snape about absolving you of those detentions."

"I wouldn't like to do the detentions, but I'd rather that Professor Snape stopped being mean to his students than that I got let off, sir."

"Well, I promise you that I will be having a word with Severus about that. He certainly shouldn't have said some of those things to young Miss Weasley."

"So… he'll have to stop being a bully? With all due respect, Headmaster, couldn't you threaten to punish him?"

"Yes, yes, I could," he replied. "I promise you that I will take this very seriously. Now, run along to lunch, young lady. You don't want to miss a meal!"

Luna was used to some people laughing at her for the things she believed. There were also people, like Harry, who were too kind to laugh. She had got very good at knowing when people weren't taking her seriously, and as she left Dumbledore's office she was certain that he was not going to punish Snape. She sighed.

It looked like she would have to write some letters before she could get lunch. At least she would hopefully still be in time for the pudding.

**A/N: OK, so **_**The Biter Bit **_**was intended to be a one-shot, but then some lovely people (I don't have time to name them all now, I'll do it in the notes for the next instalment!) convinced me to continue it. From now on it's going to get AU and somewhat silly, and I promise that it won't distract me from **_**Harry Potter and the Second War**_**! **


	3. Letters From Luna

**Letters From Luna**

_The pencil was hovering. Around it, the world turned. It wrote things down, and then they got everywhere. The pen might not be mightier than the sword, but maybe the printing press was heavier than the siege weapon._

Terry Pratchett – _Monstrous Regiment_

Luna sat on the floor of the Owlery with her legs crossed, absent-mindedly humming a tune. She was trying to compose a letter to Ginny's mother, which was difficult as she was only used to writing to her own father, and of course that was very different. This needed to be a bit more polite and formal, and she had some explaining to do. After a few false starts, she wrote

_Dear Mrs Weasley,_

_My name is Luna Lovegood and I am a friend of your daughter Ginevra (Ginny). I'm not sure if you remember me, but we met once or twice when I was a little girl: my father and I live about a mile from your house._

_Ginny has always been a very good friend to me here at Hogwarts. She was there for me when a more popular course of action would have been to laugh at me, and I always try to look out for her to repay her kindness to me when we were younger. The reason I am writing to you is that I am concerned about one particular teacher's treatment of her._

_I know that Ginny has many older brothers. I consider Ronald a friend, and I was in Dumbledore's Army with Fred and George last year. I also know that my friend Harry Potter often stays with you during the holidays. Therefore I am sure that you are aware that Professor Snape, the Potions Master here at Hogwarts, is not a very nice man. He is head of Slytherin House, and always favours students from there, Draco Malfoy in particular. He often bullies students from other houses: I know he and Harry do not get along for this reason._

_This morning in our Defence Against The Dark Arts lesson, he felt that Ginny was not paying attention. He was horrid to her, suggesting that she had spent the night with a boy and saying that she thinks she's special because Harry is her friend. He said a great deal of other mean things too, so I stood up and told him that he must not treat his students like that. He got very cross, so I left his class. I told Professor Flitwick, who is my head of house, what had happened, and then I went to visit the Headmaster. Unfortunately, I don't think that Professor Dumbledore is going to do much about this. He said he would talk to Professor Snape about his behaviour, but I felt that he wasn't taking me very seriously. I am quite good at knowing when that is happening._

_I did not speak to Ginny about writing to you, so I hope I have done the right thing._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Luna Lovegood_

There. Hopefully that would do. She walked over to one of the school owls, and tied the letter to his leg.

"There, Augustus," she said – she had found out the names of the school owls from Hagrid – "could you take this to Ginny Weasley's mother, please? I don't know her name, but she lives in The Burrow in Ottery St Catchpole."

Augustus nibbled her finger in a friendly sort of way and flew off.

Luna pulled out another piece of parchment and leaned on the windowsill to write a note to her father.

_Dear Daddy,_

_I hope you are well and that all the contributors for the next issue of the Quibbler have submitted their stories on time._

_I have told you before about Professor Snape bullying his students, haven't I? He was very mean to my friend Ginny Weasley today, and I stood up to him. He gave me detention for a month, but that isn't important. What _is _important is that I complained to Professor Dumbledore about his behaviour and I don't think he took me very seriously. I know that he is very clever and important, but I do think that he should make sure his teachers treat their students properly. Perhaps if he doesn't do something about this you could write an editorial about it? I'm sure that many of your readers have relatives in Hogwarts and would like to know what is going on. I also wrote to Ginny's mother to tell her what happened and I'm sure she will want to see something done about it.  
_

_I am taking precautions to protect myself from Nargles and Wrackspurts: those Spectrespecs have already been useful, and I keep my cork charm on me at all times._

_Lots of love,_

_Luna_

Again, Luna gave the letter to a school owl. This time, she stood in the window watching the owl depart, and while she was there a Thestral took to the skies overthe Forbidden Forest. She waited watching it for a few minutes, drinking in the beauty of the scene, but then her stomach began to rumble and she remembered that she was missing lunch, so she hurried towards the Great Hall.

When she arrived, many of the students had already finished eating. The Hall was abuzz with gossip, as usual. She sat down on her own at the Ravenclaw table and helped herself to treacle tart. As she devoured the pudding, Harry looked up from his conversation with Ginny and Neville at the Gryffindor table and saw her. He gave her a big smile and a wave.

_That's funny_, she thought. _I expect Ginny is telling him about earlier. He doesn't like Snape, so I suppose he's glad somebody else stood up to him. Maybe he thinks Ginny needs minding too; she _is _his best friend's little sister_.

"Um… hi, Luna," a voice broke her train of thought, and she looked up.

"Hello, Cho," she smiled. The girl was two years older than her and they didn't know each other very well, even though they were both Ravenclaws. They had really only got to know each other through the DA.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," replied Luna, wondering why Cho wasn't with her own friends.

"I heard about this morning. That was very brave of you, standing up to Snape like that. Like Harry standing up to Umbridge last year."

"Oh, I don't think Professor Snape is as bad as Umbridge," Luna replied politely, "but he can be rather cruel, I think."

By this point, people were starting to move off to class, and Cho's friend Marietta was beckoning impatiently to her.

"Um, well, I'd better go. I don't want to be late for class," said Cho, "but seriously, well done earlier."

Luna thanked her and then returned to her pudding. She wanted to get it finished before she had to go to her next lesson.


	4. Staffroom Sparring

**Staffroom Sparring**

_Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove._

P.G. Wodehouse – _Very Good, Jeeves!_

Albus Dumbledore opened the staffroom door, trying to think of a way to broach the issue of Luna Lovegood's complaint with Severus. As the door swung open, he heard raised voices from within, and paused on the threshold to listen.

"Really, Severus, you must understand! I have always found Miss Lovegood to be a model pupil, except for her occasional tendency to daydream. She works hard and keeps her head down, and I don't recall her ever speaking out of turn. You must realise that if she felt the need to speak up, that wasn't the same as somebody like Mr Potter – who I admit has a history of being opinionated in class – doing so."

That was Fillius. Severus muttered something inaudible in response, and Minerva cut across him.

"I have spoken to you before about your blatant favouritism, Severus! As far as you are concerned, Draco Malfoy can get away with throwing racial slurs at – and I believe once even hexing – the brightest student in the year, but I have seen you take points off non-Slytherins for giving the correct answer in class!"

"I will not have students interrupting my lessons to criticise my teaching methods, Minerva," Severus snarled, "that sort of insubordination is the kind of behaviour one expects from the Weasley twins, or Potter's late lamented father and godfather, and it's bad enough to have to deal with such troublemakers. But when other students start following their example I'll damn well put my foot down and discipline them as I please!"

"Come now, Severus, no need to speak ill of the dead!" boomed Horace Slughorn, "I mean, I know you and Potter never got on, more's the pity, but really, do you think they were the only students in their year to talk back to their teachers? Why, in my Potions lessons I was more used to having you or poor Lily interrupt me to discuss brewing techniques than I was to seeing Potter and Black disrupt the class! There are plenty of reasons to speak out in front of a professor, and certainly seeing Harry and young Miss Granger display their talents for potion-making and their love of friendly discourse in my sixth-year classes this year has brought back memories!"

Albus decided it was time to make his presence known before Severus exploded at the thought of Harry and Hermione being compared to himself and Lily. He opened the door fully and walked in, watching the former Death Eater bite his tongue and sit down when he realised who had entered the room.

"Well, Severus," he said quietly, adopting the professorial tone he used to express disappointment, "I have just had a most enlightening conversation with Miss Lovegood, who seems a most determined young woman. I admit I was somewhat surprised, when Dolores flourished the Dumbledore's Army membership list at me last year, that someone who was by all accounts as scatty and disengaged as that young lady had joined the organisation. Now I think I see why she was there, and I can understand her friendship with Harry a little better. Besides," he twinkled, "she likes sherbert lemons, so she must have excellent taste."

He beamed at the faculty, amused by their disconcertion at the sudden tangent he had taken.

"Anyway, Severus, as I was saying, Miss Lovegood told me some most interesting things. I am very disappointed that you decided that Miss Weasley's inattentiveness warranted a detention, aspersions cast on her love life and a jibe at her possession by Tom Riddle's diary when she was only eleven."

Noting the furious expression that had appeared on Minerva's face, he looked severely at the Potions Master.

"I expected better from you, Severus. I am not at all happy with this turn of events. Please try to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. Perhaps you should apologise to Miss Weasley and Miss Lovegood?"

Severus frowned.

"I will not apologise to that arrogant Weasley brat, although I will acknowledge that I was overly-harsh with her and cancel her detention. As for Lovegood… I _will_ maintain order in my classroom. No student has the right to stand up in the middle of a lesson and start criticising their teacher like that. She will do her detentions and accept the consequences of her actions."

"_Severus_…" said Albus warningly. Filius and Minerva were glaring at Snape, and even the usually-genial Slughorn looked disapproving.

Snape threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"Very _well_," he snarled. "I find myself overruled once again by those who would see their pupils mollycoddled and let them walk through life expecting to never encounter criticism or consequences. Miss Lovegood will do a week's worth of detentions, and that is my _final_ word on the matter."

Albus sighed.

"I suppose, then, that that will have to do. Are we all agreed?"

The other three teachers did not look particularly happy, but they nodded.

"Very well. The matter is resolved."

In the months to come, whenever Albus Dumbledore thought about the story of Luna Lovegood and her detentions, he always chuckled at how short-sighted that remark had been.

**A/N: I don't believe there is any canonical evidence for a staffroom in Hogwarts (there might be something on Pottermore, I can't remember), but it does seem to turn up in all sorts of fics. This is getting wildly AU anyway, so whatever…**

**I promised acknowledgements for the people who got me to expand this beyond the original one-shot so here goes:**

**I was getting some absolutely lovely reviews, and then WildRose22 posted a review asking me to continue the story. I had tried to keep the one-shot within the limits of canon, and although I had an idea for how a continuation would go, I knew it would rapidly gallop off towards the horizon of AU silliness and I wasn't sure how I felt about that (or about taking on another multi-chapter fic while writing **_**Harry Potter and the Second War**_**). I posted a comment to this effect in the Teachers' Lounge, and all the lovely people there were really encouraging about doing it. So I did it.**

**Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far, guys! I love writing Luna, so it's really gratifying to see that people seem to like the way I write her :D**


	5. Some Notes On The Nature Of Nargle Nests

**Some Notes On The Nature Of Nargle Nests**

"Have you ever _seen_ a million dollars?"

_The Santa Clause_

Harry Potter had just finished Transfiguration, his last lesson of the day. He was walking towards the Great Hall for dinner, his head full of plans for the night's Quidditch training. He was pushing the team hard in preparation for their first match of the season, although he _was_ planning on giving them the next night off for Halloween. In reality, he had the session all planned out already, but he needed something to take his mind off the heavy hints Slughorn had been dropping in Potions earlier.

"Well, Harry, m'boy," he had said, "I'm sure you're training very hard for the upcoming game against Slytherin, but once that's over you won't have a match until next term! You've earned a bit of a break, haven't you? I know you're always too busy training to attend my little gatherings, but you must certainly come to my Christmas party! They're always great fun, and my old friends often drop in. I'll tell you what, since there'll be two Quidditch players there if you come – Miss Weasley has already promised her attendance – I'll have a word with Gwenog and see if she's available!"

The worst thing was that Harry couldn't see any way of getting out of it. Even if he was injured in the match on Friday, he would still have over a month to recover. On the other hand, he reflected, it _would_ be cool to meet Gwenog Jones. And Hermione would doubtless be there. _And Ginny and Dean_, he thought, feeling oddly jealous of Dean. He had grown used to spending time with Ginny over the summer and disliked seeing less of her during term time. Added to that had been his odd reaction to walking in on her and Dean snogging the previous night. Perhaps his protectiveness was simply brotherly. Given that Ginny was his best friend's sister, he didn't particularly want to think about the alternative.

He heard someone humming up ahead, and when he rounded a corner he saw Luna wandering towards the Great Hall. He sped up to catch up with her and hearing his footsteps, she looked around.

"Oh, hello, Harry," she smiled, "how are you this afternoon?"

"I'm fine, Luna. How are you? Taken down any more bullies?" he grinned.

Luna's silvery eyes, always large, widened. She appeared to be giving his feeble joke serious consideration.

"Oh, no, Harry," she said, shaking her head, "None of the other teachers are bullies, really, and, well… not many of the students listen to me, you know."

"Well they should," he replied forcefully, "how many of them have fought Death Eaters?"

"That's a bit of a special case, Harry. I was with my friends. You should always help your friends. And, of course, we had been trained quite well by you. You should be proud of yourself."

She gave him a big smile.

"I think all the DA members should be proud, apart from Marietta," he said. "They all worked really hard at that stuff last year. But even leaving aside the DA bit, how many students here have the guts to stand up to Snape?"

"You do," she replied.

He shrugged.

"I dunno. I don't think of it that way. Snape hasn't exactly made his hatred of me, my father or Sirius and Professor Lupin a secret." Noticing her expression of curiosity, he added, "Remus Lupin was my father's other best friend at school. So it's easy, you know, to deal with a teacher who's being that petty towards you. Besides, I grew up with bullies."

Luna nodded.

"Yes, Ginny mentioned that your aunt and uncle and cousin were very unpleasant to you when you were younger," she said, in what Harry considered to be an inappropriately cheerful tone of voice, "I expect you're glad to spend so much time away from them at Hogwarts and at Ginny's house."

Harry was about to abruptly change the subject when he remembered that Luna had been bullied a lot at Hogwarts. He thought for a moment, and then decided to be honest about it with her.

"Yes. It's a lot nicer staying with the Weasleys or with Sirius when he was alive. Or just staying in school for Christmas. I did that for my first four years in Hogwarts."

"That can't have been much fun," she replied seriously.

"Well, usually at least one of Ron and Hermione stayed with me. They've been very good friends to me for all these years."

She beamed, and patted him on the arm.

"I _am_ glad to hear that. It's very nice to have good friends like that."

"Tell me, Luna…" said Harry, wondering how best to broach the subject of his friend's own difficulties with bullies, "have… have any of your things disappeared this year?"

"Oh, yes, a few things have," she replied vaguely. "At first, I suspected Nargles, but I made a second anti-Nargle charm over the summer and I left it in my dorm, and still some of my clothes have disappeared. People must be taking them again. I'm sure it's all in good fun, but it is _rather_ frustrating."

Again, all of this was said in an incongruously cheerful sing-song voice.

"People shouldn't steal your stuff," Harry responded seriously.

Luna shrugged, and they walked along together in companionable silence for a few minutes, until Harry's curiosity got the better of him. He just had to know.

"Why did you think it was Nargles stealing your stuff, Luna?"

"Well, Nargles are a kind of sprite. They're almost impossible to see, you know. Sightings are very rare, but their presence can be deduced from their impact on the environment. They build nests, you see, for their young, and they scavenge materials from their surroundings. Naturally, clothes are something they quite like to use, because the material is warm and comfy."

She said all this like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Not in the exasperated manner Hermione took on when she had to explain the obvious to Harry and Ron, but more in the way of someone explaining an everyday fact, like the location of the nearest telephone booth.

She looked him in the eye.

"You don't really believe in Nargles, do you?" she asked.

"I'm not really sure they exist, to be honest," he replied.

"Oh, well, I suppose that's fair enough. You haven't read about them or anything. Perhaps I could get Daddy to send you a book," she said airily. "It would be a good idea to keep an open mind, though."

"What do you mean? I've heard you say that Hermione is close-minded before for not believing you, but Hermione has always been willing to listen to new ideas as long as there's evidence. Although sometimes she takes a bit of persuading," he grinned wryly.

"Well, you see…" she paused for a second, apparently collecting her thoughts, "you and Hermione were both brought up by Muggles. So until you received your Hogwarts letters, I expect you didn't really believe in magic, either. You hadn't seen any evidence for magic, and I expect magical creatures would have been like made-up animals in a story for you."

Harry nodded, thinking of the book of fairy tales in his primary school's library.

"But now you know that magic is real. You've seen Thestrals and centaurs. So wouldn't it be silly to completely dismiss the existence of Nargles just because you haven't seen one? You might see one tomorrow!"

She smiled widely, seemingly satisfied with her own logic. Harry had to admit, it was quite a sensible position to take, and maybe Hermione was a little too quick to dismiss things out of hand, from the Thestrals pulling the school carriages last year to his own theories about Malfoy's activities this year. For the first time, he could really see why Luna had been sorted into Ravenclaw. He nodded at her.

"You're right. I shouldn't disbelieve you just because none of us have seen Nargles. They might exist. After all, until I was eleven I _knew_ there was no such thing as witches and wizards or Dark Lords or magical broomsticks. I should be less quick to dismiss strange stuff in future."

By this time, they had arrived outside the Great Hall. Luna gave him a quick squeeze.

"Thank you, Harry!" she beamed, "All Daddy and I want is for people to keep an open mind. We don't know for certain if all these wondrous creatures we write about are still alive on Earth, but nobody will ever find out if we ignore the possibility!"

Harry hugged her back, unsure of what exactly he should be saying or doing. Then she let go of him.

"This has been a lovely chat, Harry, but I really must go and eat. I have a week of after-dinner detentions with Professor Snape to do, you know."

Harry frowned.

"That doesn't seem very fair."

"Well, I did speak out of turn in class and call him a bully," she shrugged, "and it could be worse. He wanted to put me in detention for a month, remember?"

Harry nodded and smiled, and the two of them walked into the Great Hall side-by-side before heading to their respective tables.

**A/N: Thank you to all the wonderful people who reassured me of the canonicity of the Hogwarts staffroom. Boy do I feel silly now! :P**


	6. The Bitter Bit

**The Bitter Bit**

"_He was up against a mind that regarded truth as a reference point but certainly not as a shackle."_

Terry Pratchett – _Maskerade_

Professor Severus Snape, former Death Eater, member of both incarnations of the Order of the Phoenix, self-styled Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore's most trusted spy, the greatest Potions Master Hogwarts had seen in over a century and now its DADA teacher, was nonplussed. In a decade and a half teaching at Hogwarts, he had handed out detentions to hundreds of students. It was not something that he particularly enjoyed – he was no Dolores Umbridge – but it was a vital part of maintaining discipline in the classroom. He tended to set students some dull or mildly unpleasant task that needed to be carried out, saving Filch from having to do some cleaning work or lessening his own administrative workload. The point was that the detainee would lose an hour or two of their free time to a frustratingly repetitive chore, thus making them think twice about misbehaving in future. The reactions he got from students varied. Potter, for example, usually spent the whole time fuming about the injustice of being put in detention for reacting to some petty verbal barb from Draco Malfoy with physical violence, although of late he had taken to keeping his face studiedly blank in detention, as if he were attempting to practice Occlumency. Other students sulked, or grew increasingly frustrated with the job they had been set – Ronald Weasley was prone to both of those reactions. Some whined about missing an arrangement with their friends, some glared, one or two frightened first-years had even sobbed.

Luna Lovegood, however…

He had begun the detention with a few choice remarks about accepting the consequences of one's actions, no matter how noble one believed one's intentions to be. She had listened with every appearance of polite attentiveness, given a small nod of understanding and a faint glimmer of a smile, as if his words had reminded her of some private joke that she saw no point in sharing. He had set her sorting through several box-files of old potions assignments. Every few years, he went through the essays he had received from his students, throwing out most of them and keeping those that had received an 'Outstanding' grade as a reference-point for top students of the future. Now that Horace was teaching Potions, Severus had offered to continue this practice. It was dull, repetitive work, the perfect thing for a detention, and it had the added benefit of being useful to the academic progress of the detainee's fellow-students.

A few minutes later, he had looked up from grading third-year Defence essays – really, how could any self-respecting thirteen-year-old confuse Grindylows with the Merpeople? – to see her staring into space, apparently daydreaming. He had been about to make an acerbic remark about her inattentiveness when he noticed that her hands were still mechanically sorting papers into their correct piles. He deducted five marks from Dennis Creevey for misspelling 'Kappa' to mask his inner confusion.

As the detention wore on, he found himself becoming increasingly frustrated with Lovegood. Although she was showing no signs of enjoying her punishment, she wasn't exactly acting suitably chastened either. He had tried making a few pointed remarks about how she could have spent the evening enjoying herself with her friends if only she had been sensible enough to keep her mouth shut in class. She hadn't even reacted. It was as if they had gone straight over her head. He was torn between wanting to swear at the girl for her infuriatingly tranquil behaviour, and mentally congratulating her for her ability to mask her emotions. _If Potter had her poise_, he caught himself thinking, _I might have been able to teach him Occlumency last year_. He shook himself. Utter nonsense. This wasn't poise, this wasn't the calculated Slytherin burying of one's true intentions. The girl was a bit of an oddball. All the staff knew that. Loony Lovegood, that's what most of the students called her, and with good reason. She was always skipping about singing to herself or losing her possessions. Right now, she was probably busy thinking about some invented creature or ridiculous conspiracy theory, or whatever else her crackpot father and his contemptible rag had convinced her of.

Severus had found the greatest expression of his philosophy on life in a Muggle play, which had surprised him. Lily had understandably been fond of Muggle writers, and had shared her books with him during their childhood. One quotation from a Shakespeare play had stuck with him, coming back to haunt him years later when he first took of the mantle of Dumbledore's spy within the Dark Lord's inner circle.

_For when my outward action doth demonstrate_

_The native act and figure of my heart_

_In compliment extern, 'tis not long after_

_But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve_

_For daws to peck at. I am not what I am._

That was what he did. Every single day. Because anything else would be a weakness, and could fatally compromise the mission that he had devoted his life to. That was not what he was seeing in the Lovegood girl. She was simply accepting of the detention and unaffected by his words. As he dismissed her for the evening, he wondered whether there was any point in giving her detention at all.

_Pour encourager les autres_, he thought wryly.

**A/N:** **the punning chapter title was kind of inevitable, wasn't it?**


	7. A Talk With Tonks

**A Talk With Tonks**

_Sometimes, the best answer is a more interesting question._

Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen – _The Science of Discworld_

After her first detention with Snape was over, Luna decided to go to the library for a bit to see if she could get some studying done before curfew. She had only been walking for a couple of minutes when she felt something yank her ankle and she fell, sprawling face-first on the ground with all her books spilling out of her bag.

"Ha! Trip jinx, Loony! Got you!" yelled a harsh female voice.

Luna pushed herself up off the ground, looking up at her assailant. It was that large Slytherin sixth-year who had been in the Inquisitorial Squad… what was her name again? Millicent something, she thought, but she wasn't entirely certain. She stood up as the girl approached, brushing herself off.

"Think you're special, do you, Loony?" sneered Millicent. "Think you're all brave because you were in Potter's little gang last year?"

Luna considered the question.

"No, I don't think I'm very brave, really," she said seriously.

"Yeah, Loony? Bet you're not brave at all. I suppose you just thought you were all clever, giving cheek to Professor Snape like that," the Slytherin pointed her wand at Luna, "who do you think you are, complaining about Draco and the rest of us?"

Luna's wand was in her pocket. Even with her DA training, she was sure she wouldn't be able to block any spell Millicent chose to send her way. Perhaps if she dived to one side…

"Well, Loony? Are you even listening to me?"

She was casting around desperately for something to say that would distract her opponent when she heard a quiet voice from behind Millicent.

"Hey, what's going on here? You, kid, lower your wand."

Millicent spun around, wand raised.

"Seriously, kid," it was a woman with mousy brown hair, "I'm not messing around. I'm one of the Aurors assigned to guard the school, so just lower the wand and back off."

Millicent rocked back and forth on her heels for a moment, and then stormed off.

Luna smiled at her unexpected rescuer.

"Thank you very much for helping," she said, Summoning her books and bag with a sweep of her wand, "I wasn't sure what to do, you see. I hadn't had a chance to get my wand out of my pocket."

She began to walk towards the library again, and the Auror followed her.

"So… um… what was that about?" she asked.

"Oh, well, I expect it was something to do with earlier. Professor Snape was bullying my friend Ginny, so I told him off and reported him to Professor Dumbledore. Word does seem to have spread fast, and I don't think that the Slytherins are very happy with me. Of course, they never are, really."

The Auror looked at her in admiration. There were something puzzlingly familiar about her, but Luna couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"You told _Snape_ off for bullying! About bloody time! I was a student here a few years ago, and I remember what he was like. I still see far too much of him, as it happens, and I have a few friends who would be very happy to see him taken down a peg or two."

She sighed slightly, as if something about that last statement pained her.

Luna looked at her for a moment, and then something clicked in her brain.

"Um… I hope you don't mind me asking, but aren't you in the… um… the Order of the Phoenix? I think I met you very briefly before. I was in the Department of Mysteries with Harry, but I got knocked out. I was alright though, and I was minding Ginny and Ronald Weasley when the grown-ups arrived. Professor Dumbledore wasn't satisfied that I was unharmed though, so he put me on a stretcher next to you. You'd been injured in the fighting. You had pink hair then."

The Auror's eyes widened.

"How did you know that was me? I don't look anything like I did then!"

"You still look sort of the same. The way you move your face and things. Things like that don't change, not matter what the person does to their appearance. Unless they mimic somebody else, I suppose. Why do you look so different? Are you undercover? Is it a disguise?"

She waited for the Auror to reply, excited that she might be told about some exciting adventure or dangerous mission.

"No, nothing like that. I'm… well, I'm a Metamorphmagus. I can –"

Luna couldn't help interrupting her.

"You're a Metamorphmagus? That's _wonderful!_ Being able to change your appearance at will! You're very lucky, you know."

The Auror grinned weakly.

"I'm Tonks," she said, "And you're a friend of Harry's, then? In the DA and all. I bet you could've taken that Slytherin girl."

Luna smiled politely, unsure whether that was a joke or a compliment.

"Yes, Miss Tonks. I am friends with Harry. I met him last year. He's a very good teacher, you know, but he wants to be an Auror like you. My name is Luna, by the way. Luna Lovegood."

"Just Tonks, thanks. Yeah, Harry would probably make a decent Auror. Good for him!"

Luna wondered how to respond to this. Tonks was in the Order of the Phoenix and she _was_ a very young Auror. Perhaps it was safe to raise her concerns about Harry's career choices.

"Of course, he would have to be very careful. You should be too. There's the Rotfang conspiracy, you know."

"What's that?" asked Tonks, frowning.

"Oh, most of the senior Aurors are working to bring down the Ministry using a combination of Dark magic and gum disease. After I saw what some of the Ministry officials were like last year I thought a change of leaders might be for the best, but the Rotfang conspirators are very dangerous. Watch out in case they try to drag you into their plot!"

Tonks looked at her with a funny expression on her face for a moment, and then assured her that she would take all necessary precautions. They walked along in silence for a few minutes before the young Auror spoke again.

"So, why aren't you in your Common Room, Luna?"

"I had detention with Professor Snape. I had only just left that when you found me. So I thought I would go to the library and get some study done before bed."

Tonks looked at her sympathetically.

"Must be a pain; I always hated detention."

"Oh, it's not too bad," Luna assured her. "Professor Umbridge used to make us write lines with Blood Quills, that was a lot worse. Poor Harry has scars on his hand that say 'I must not tell lies', you know. Detention is boring, but I always have lots to think about and Snape didn't set me anything terribly difficult to do. It would be more inconvenient later this year, when I'm studying for my OWLs, of course."

Tonks had frowned at the mention of Blood Quills.

"What about spending time with your friends? Seems unfair you should miss out on that just for telling Snape the same thing we've all been telling him for years."

Luna's eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh, I see what you mean! Well, most of my friends are in Gryffindor: Ginny and Ronald and Harry and Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom. I suppose the other DA members must be my friends too, but I don't really have many friends. People think I'm a little odd," she confided.

"Nonsense!" replied Tonks indignantly. "You're not odd, you're unique! Like me!"

"It's very kind of you to say so, Tonks," Luna responded, "although everybody's unique, really."

Tonks laughed.

"You're right there, Luna. Although", she sighed slightly, "some of us are more unique than others, eh? Here's the library. Anyway, I'd better get back to patrolling. Nice meeting you!"

"It was a pleasure to meet you too," beamed Luna, and she went into the library, pondering the potential meanings of "some of us are more unique than others".

**A/N: I couldn't resist the idea of Luna squeeing at Tonks being a Metamorphmagus. It seemed perfect, and Tonks probably needed a bit of cheering up between Sirius' death and the whole Lupin thing.**


	8. Letters For Luna

**Letters For Luna**

_Early in the morning,  
Feet stuck on the ground.  
Gotta fix my cup of caffeine, and I'm turning things around_

William Beckett – 'Compromising Me'

Luna was having breakfast the following morning when Augustus the school owl arrived with a reply from Mrs Weasley. Abandoning her porridge, she opening it to see what Ginny's mother had to say.

_Dear Luna,_

_Thank you for getting in touch with me about this. Certainly Professor Snape has not endeared himself to any of my children, let alone Harry or Hermione. I know that Harry cannot stand the man, although I had put that down more to their personal differences, and Harry inheriting his father and godfather's dislike of Severus, than anything else. From what you are telling me, it seems that the situation is far more serious that I had imagined. You can guess that I will not tolerate anybody bullying my daughter, and I have written to her to check up on her wellbeing. My husband and I have discussed the matter of the particular incident that you wrote to me about, and have decided to see if the Headmaster takes action to discipline his employee before we do anything else. Obviously if there is no change in your professor's behaviour we will raise the matter formally, and I will certainly have words with Severus and Professor Dumbledore._

_I can assure you that you did the correct thing by contacting me._

_With thanks,_

_Molly Weasley_

Well, that was something, although Luna highly doubted that Professor Dumbledore was able to stop Snape from bullying his students. She was just wondering how long it would be before she heard back from her father when another owl flew overhead, dropping a letter into her lap.

_Dear Luna,_ (it read)

_It sounds like you had quite a busy day! I hope Professor Snape's detentions are not too harsh. It was very good of you to stand up for your young friend like that, your mother would be proud of you. If your professor causes you any more trouble, please let me know immediately. I am working on an editorial for next month's edition of the _Quibbler_ that will discuss the mistreatment of students at Hogwarts, so if there is anything else you think I should know please owl me within the next few weeks!_

_I am glad to hear that you have had no trouble with Wrackspurts or Nargles, but remember that with winter setting in there may be Venomous Snowbats nesting in the Forest! If there are, they may well stray closer to the school, so be sure to keep an eye out for them._

_With love from your old father,_

_XL_

Luna smiled at the signature. Her father signed all his letters, no matter how formal or informal, with his initials. He said that it was force of habit after all his years signing off on editorials. Then she frowned slightly. She had forgotten all about the Venomous Snowbats! She would have to be careful on her walks around the grounds.

"Hi Luna," said Harry from behind her. He must have walked over from the Gryffindor table. "Snape treat you alright in detention?"

"Oh yes," she said reassuringly, "It was nothing like Umbridge's detentions last year. He just had me sorting old Potions essays."

Harry grinned.

"Not too bad then. I thought he'd be furious with you."

"Oh no, he barely spoke at all, really. Maybe Professor Dumbledore _did_ have a word with him after all. I did have a spot of bother with a Slytherin afterwards though."

He frowned, and she instantly regretted saying anything. Knowing Harry, he would get in trouble for an angry outburst at her assailant.

"Who was it?" he asked, glaring over at the Slytherin table.

"A girl in your year. Millicent something, I believe. She was in the Inquisitorial Squad."

"_Bullstrode_," he spat, standing up.

Luna reached out and put a hand on his arm, hoping to stop him before he did anything rash.

"It's quite alright, Harry. There was an Auror on patrol, called Tonks. I recognised her from the Ministry last summer."

He relaxed slightly, but did not sit back down.

"How was she?" he asked, still glowering at the gang of Slytherin sixth-years surrounding Draco Malfoy.

"She seemed a little tired, but she was very nice. She's awfully lucky, being a Metamorphmagus. Imagine having a power that rare!" A thought struck her. "Would _you_ like to be a Metamorphmagus, Harry? If you got tired of people staring at your scar, or treating you differently because you're famous, you could hide for a bit."

Harry looked at her oddly.

"That's pretty much what Tonks said to me the first time we met. She was right."

Luna smiled in what she hoped was a comforting manner. It must be very difficult for Harry, having to deal with the pressures of being The Boy Who Lived.

"Why don't you sit down?" she said. "I'm just trying to finish off my breakfast."

He took a seat, and she removed her hand from his arm, confident that he would not cause a scene with the Slytherins, at least for the moment. She returned to her porridge to find that it had gone cold, so she turned her attention to the toast and marmalade instead.

"You know, Harry, it's very kind of you, the way you stick up for your friends. It's very brave too. You don't have to do it all the time, though. Look at what just happened. Tonks dealt with that girl last night and you can see that I'm fine, so there's really no need to pick a fight with her in front of her friends and all the teachers."

She patted his arm and he smiled weakly at her, but before either of them could say anything further Ginny walked over to the Ravenclaw table, holding a letter in her hand.

"Luna," she said as soon as she reached the duo, "did you _really_ write to Mum about what happened yesterday?"

Luna nodded.

"Look, Luna. I'm grateful that you stood up to Snape, and I'm sure you meant well by this, but now I've got a big fussy letter from Mum asking whether I'm being bullied and if anything is affecting my academic progress. Just…" she paused, as if unsure of what to say, "just… let me handle this myself, OK?"

She walked off without waiting for Luna to respond. Luna couldn't help but feel rather silly. Perhaps she should have checked with Ginny before writing to Mrs Weasley. She must have looked crestfallen, because Harry put an arm around her shoulders and smiled reassuringly at her.

"Don't worry about Ginny," he said. "She's not really mad at you, she just likes to do things for herself. I've seen her argue with Dean about him trying to help her through the Gryffindor portrait hole."

"Everyone should like to do things for themselves, Harry," she replied. "We shouldn't be dependent on others all the time."

Harry nodded.

"I know, but what I mean is… she doesn't want people to help her, a lot of the time. Maybe it's because she has so many older brothers. She's determined to not be treated like a kid."

Luna considered this.

"It's possible, of course. Although _you_ are _terrible_ at accepting help," she added cheekily.

Harry sighed. He always took the things people said so seriously. Luna couldn't help it. She stuck out her tongue at him.

Harry gaped, and then laughed so hard that people at the other house tables turned around to look at him.


	9. Help From Hermione

**Help From Hermione**

"_And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need."_

P.G. Wodehouse – _Mostly Sally_

Hermione Granger had gone to the library to study and think. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Dean were all completely worked up about the upcoming match, making peace and quiet in the Gryffindor common room impossible, and she really needed to get some work done before the Halloween Feast. Besides – despite her frequent attempts at getting Harry and Ron to use it more often more often – the library had become her place to escape from her friends when she needed to think. She enjoyed the quiet, the solitude and the company of books. Books were sensible, and logical. There was an order they were supposed to go in on the shelves, and if something was out of place it was easy to notice and remedy, unlike in certain other aspects of her life (the image of a certain lanky redhead swam into focus in her mind's eye, and she hastily quashed it and reached for her copy of _Advanced Potion Making_). There were other things she wanted to think about besides her own problems, anyway. Snape's treatment of Ginny, for example, and Ginny's irritation at Luna having written to Mrs Weasley about it.

Luna… that reminded her. She had almost been shocked to see Harry leave the Gryffindor table and join Luna to finish breakfast. It wasn't that movement between the house tables was rare at mealtimes – Ginny had often sat with Michael Corner when they were dating, and it was not uncommon for Ernie or Justin or Terry Boot to stop by the Gryffindor table for a chat – it was just that it was never something that _Harry_ had done. He didn't have many close friends outside Gryffindor – people like Hannah, Ernie and Justin were good friends, but they had doubted him several times in the past when he had felt isolated, and the fiasco with Cho had broken his one close relationship in Ravenclaw – and always stuck with his house at meals, waiting for people to come to him if they wanted to. _That might have something to do with his upbringing_, she thought, _the Dursleys can't exactly have encouraged him to be sociable_. It was good to see that he was moving out of his shell a bit, and Luna was a nice girl – if a little odd – and she would hopefully be a good friend to Harry, although Hermione couldn't help but wonder if Harry's decision to go and talk to her was entirely because Luna had confronted Snape. He might have thought that she needed moral support. _Or he might just have wanted to annoy Snape by underlining his friendship with her in front of him_, she thought wryly.

"Oh… hello, Hermione…" came a dreamy voice from behind her, "I rather thought that I would find you here."

Hermione almost jumped out of her skin. _Speak of the Devil_, she thought.

"Hi Luna!" she replied. "How are you getting on?"

"Oh, I'm very well, thank you. I was just hoping I could have a quick word with you before I go to the Feast, because I won't have time afterwards, what with my detention and everything."

"Of course, Luna," smiled Hermione, pushing aside both her textbook and her confusing thoughts about her friends (_one friend in particular_, said the wry voice in her head that sounded a little like Harry), "what can I do for you?"

"Well, it's just that I don't think that Professor Dumbledore is going to do much about Snape's behaviour," the blonde Ravenclaw said seriously.

"I don't know, Luna," Hermione responded, "I do trust him to do the right thing, even if sometimes I don't understand his motivations until after the fact."

Luna nodded.

"Oh, yes. I'm sure that a lot of the time we simply aren't clever enough to understand what he's doing and why he's doing it. But I don't think that's the case with this thing. I mean, Snape has been horrid for all the time we've been in school, hasn't he?"

Hermione nodded.

"And I met an Auror called Tonks last night, and she said that Snape was just as mean when she was in Hogwarts."

Hermione couldn't help but grin, imagining what a meeting between Tonks and Luna would be like. Luna paused for a second, and then continued.

"So what I'm trying to say is that I don't think anything has been done to stop Snape's bullying in the past, and therefore it's probably unlikely that anything will be done now. Professor Dumbledore must have had complaints about him before, after all."

Luna said all of this in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone of voice, which Hermione found slightly shocking given that she was essentially accusing the greatest wizard of the age of – what was the Muggle phrase? – failure in his duty of care towards his pupils. _Ravenclaw logic_, she thought wryly, _she's more rational than she looks, at least some of the time_. She realised that her friend was looking at her expectantly, clearly awaiting a response.

"You may be right, Luna…" she began.

"Oh, I'm rather afraid I am. That wasn't why I wanted to speak to you. I was just thinking that if Professor Dumbledore doesn't make Snape change his behaviour, we should contact Rita Skeeter again. She _does_ owe Daddy a favour or two for her return to gainful employment, if that's what she considers her column in the _Prophet_."

Hermione couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"You know, Luna, you might have a point. I think that might be a clever idea."

Luna positively beamed.

"Oooh, splendid!" she said, clapping her hands, "I was hoping you'd agree!"

Hermione smiled back, but unfortunately Luna's excitement had attracted Madam Pince, who bore down on them, glaring.

"No talking in the Library! Out! Out!" she hissed.

Hermione sighed and gathered up her books, and left for the Feast with Luna, still pondering the girl's sudden determination and Harry's newfound closeness to her.

**A/N: At a couple of points in the books, it's mentioned that Harry's conscience is a voice that sounds like Hermione. I thought it'd be fun to have Hermione's conscience sound like Harry.** **Hopefully it helps to emphasise their pseudo-sibling relationship.**


	10. Matchday Morning

**Matchday Morning**

_She was an incredibly comfortable person to be around, partly because she had a mind so broad it could accommodate three football fields and a bowling alley._

Terry Pratchett – _Lords and Ladies_

Neville Longbottom sat at the Gryffindor table, wolfing down his breakfast and watching those of his friends who played Quidditch nervously picking at their food. Ron looked positively green, while Ginny, Harry and Dean were at least managing to cover their nervousness beneath a veneer of tense banter. He often wondered how they all did it. He was a terrible flier, but even if he'd been any good he would probably have preferred to stay on the ground as a spectator. He would be far too nervous before games to ever cope as a player, and he was accident-prone enough as it is without taking up a fairly dangerous pastime. Just look at the amount of injuries Harry had picked up over the years, although Harry was pretty unlucky when it came to that sort of thing.

Noticing that Harry was trying to cajole Ron into eating something, Neville abandoned his own breakfast to help.

"Come on, Ron," he said, "you know you won't be able to play at all if you don't get your strength up first!"

Ron shook his head, muttering something incomprehensible. Then he looked at Harry as if seeing him for the first time.

"After today, I'm bloody resigning," he gasped, "McLaggen can have my place."

Harry shook his head.

"You'll be fine," he said reassuringly, "but you need to eat."

Ron sighed, and stabbed moodily at his sausages with his fork.

"C'mon Ron, here, have some pumpkin juice."

As Harry handed his teammate the goblet, Neville could have sworn he saw the glint of a glass vial in the Gryffindor captain's hand. Hermione had spotted it too, and she pounced on her friend.

"_Harry!_" she hissed, "If that's what I think it was – don't drink it, Ron! – you _really_ shouldn't have done that."

Harry shrugged and smirked. Ron stared at Hermione for a moment before looking away from her gaze and downing his drink in one go. She gasped.

"Not going to report me, are you?" grinned Harry.

"No… no… of course not!" she replied, "But it was still the wrong thing to do!"

Then it hit Neville. _That must've been the bottle of Felix Felicis that Ernie said Harry won off Slughorn_, he thought. But surely Harry would never cheat… it was very odd. Before he could ponder this further, Luna wandered over to the Gryffindor table, wearing her charmed lion hat. He gave her a warm smile. Despite Luna's battiness, he had grown to like her over the course of their year in the DA, and his respect for her had greatly increased recently because of her decision to stand up to Snape. She waved at him, and sat down next to Harry.

"Hello, Harry," she said in her sing-song voice, "I hope you're ready for the match. We couldn't have you losing to Slytherin, now, could we?"

Even Ron chuckled at that.

"Glad to see we have the support of the other houses," he smirked.

"Oh, well, I can't speak for everyone, of course," said Luna seriously, helping herself to toast, "but I suspect that most people would rather Slytherin didn't win."

Neville noticed that Harry seemed a little more nervous after that. He probably felt that having three houses cheering him on was a bit too much expectation for his first match as captain. The gang fell silent, and Neville found himself missing the way that the Weasley twins would work off their own – and everybody else's – nerves with jokes and maybe a flashy trick, one of the joke-shop items they spent half their time developing or something.

"So, Luna," he said, to break the silence, "how're your detentions with Snape going?"

"Oh, not too badly at all," she replied vaguely, "I mean, they _are_ quite boring, but they aren't too unpleasant or anything. I can get on with thinking about something interesting and he hardly seems to notice."

Neville couldn't help but grin at that. He reckoned that Snape must have been internally howling with frustration at Luna's complete indifference to her punishment.

Ron stood up abruptly.

"C'mon," he said, squaring his shoulders, "let's get this over with."

"That's the spirit," said Dean sarcastically, slapping him on the back.

Harry got to his feet, frowning. Neville assumed he was going over his team talk or his tactics or something to try to calm his nerves.

Ron, Dean, Ginny and Hermione began to walk out of the Great Hall and Harry turned to go after them. Neville and Seamus made to follow suit, and Luna jumped up from the table, swallowing the remainder of her toast. The four of them caught up with the others just as they were splitting up, the players to go to the changing room and the spectators heading for the stands. Neville and Seamus were wishing Dean luck, proud of the fact that another of their friends had made it onto the team, when to everyone's surprise Luna jumped on Harry, giving him a quick hug.

"Good luck, Harry!" she beamed, "Try to avoid Wrackspurts; you don't want your brain going fuzzy in the middle of the match!"

Harry seemed unsure how to respond, but he hugged her back, thanking her in a slightly embarrassed manner as he did so. Neville smirked. He might have been forgetful for most of his childhood and early teens, but being the shy, quiet kid in the corner meant that he had developed a certain talent for observation, and he couldn't help but notice that Harry was grinning and seemed more relaxed than he had a few minutes earlier. As he, Seamus, Hermione and Luna departed for the stands, he realised something else that give him food for thought.

Hermione had kissed Ron on the cheek before she caught up to join them.

**A/N: This chapter wanders pretty close to canon, really. I liked the idea that Neville would be quiet observant socially, because most of the time he's on the outside looking in.**


	11. The Inevitable Infraction

**The Inevitable Infraction**

_Time passed, which, basically, is its job._

Terry Pratchett – _Equal Rites_

The next week or so passed relatively uneventfully. Luna finished up her detentions with Snape and things seemed to be settling back to normal. It was remarkable, she reflected, how quickly most of her fellow-students had forgotten their praise for the confrontation in her DADA class. She quickly realised that she really shouldn't have been surprised. She was still Loony Lovegood, after all, and her classmates' view of her wouldn't change that easily (in fact, several pairs of socks had disappeared from her definitely Nargle-free trunk over the past few days). Besides, people like Harry and Neville and Ginny remembered what she had done, and that was all that mattered. They were her friends, and that was what was important.

It was the Monday after Luna's detentions with Snape had ended, and she was walking along a corridor humming to herself. It was a bright sunny day – although not very warm, so it was a shame most of her winter socks had vanished – and she felt happy with the world. She was just running over the letter she was mentally composing to her father detailing Umbridge's mistreatment of students the previous year when she noticed a slight commotion up ahead. As she drew closer, she could see a group of sixth-year students standing outside the DADA class. Pansy Parkinson appeared to be attempting to provoke an altercation with Hermione, who was studiously refusing to react. Harry was standing next to her protectively, but Ronald was nowhere to be seen. Peering around at the rest of the class, Luna spotted him with Lavender Brown. He was certainly far too busy kissing her to notice the row brewing several feet away.

_That's a little odd…_ Luna thought, _I was _sure_ that Ronald and Hermione rather liked each other…_

By this point, Luna had reached the edge of the group, and seeing that Hermione seemed to be coping with Pansy's taunts, she decided to continue on her way. She had only progressed a few steps, however, when she heard Pansy sneer "I don't know why I'm even lowering myself to insult a pathetic little Mudblood like you."

Luna heard a growl from Seamus Finnegan and saw Neville frown, and looking at the furious expression on Harry's face her eyes widened. _Please don't do anything stupid_, she thought, willing Harry to pick up on her mental advice, _it's not worth it, just walk away_.

Harry pulled out his wand.

"Take that back, Parkinson," he said softly, dangerously.

At that exact moment, Snape swept out of the classroom.

"Come on, come on. You're wasting valuable lesson time hanging around out here like a bunch of layabouts. Weasley, Brown, ten points from Gryffindor. Get inside now or it will be – POTTER! What exactly do you think you're doing?"

Harry lowered his wand.

"Parkinson called Hermione a Mudblood, _Professor_."

"Be that as it may, fighting is forbidden at Hogwarts and you know perfectly well that magic is not to be performed on the corridors. Detention. Now, inside, all of you."

Parvati Patil, Seamus and Dean started yelling in fury at the injustice of Pansy not getting any punishment.

"INSIDE!" bellowed Snape, cutting them off. "INSIDE BEFORE I PUT THE ENTIRE CLASS IN DETENTION!"

Hermione, Harry and Neville glanced at each other and nodded. Neville put an arm around Dean's shoulders and dragged him into the classroom, while Harry dealt with Seamus and Hermione calmed Parvati.

"C'mon," Harry muttered, "it's not worth it. We all know that by now."

He saw Luna and gave her a tight little grin, clearly too angry with Snape and Pansy to smile properly. She waved back and continued on her way, disappointed that he had allowed himself to be provoked into rule-breaking once again, and annoyed with Snape for his reaction. It seemed that nothing had changed.

* * *

Later that day, Luna tracked down Hermione in the library during a free period. The busy-haired Gryffindor seemed entirely unsurprised to see her. It transpired that she had spent the past few days making a list of some of the more obvious examples of Snape's abuses, ready for the inevitable ending of his good behaviour. Luna was delighted.

"Oh, splendid, Hermione! I've been writing a letter to Daddy about the goings-on here, so we could enclose your list!"

Hermione smiled.

"That's great, Luna! Here, if give me the letter I can add my list, where is it?"

"Oh, it's not _here_," chuckled Luna, "it's in my head."

Hermione gaped.

"What –" she began feebly.

Luna laughed aloud at Hermione's bafflement.

"What I mean is," she explained patiently, "that I have been composing the letter in my head. And then I'll write it down quickly,"

She took a quill and parchment out of her bag and scribbled a quick note to her father. Hermione added her list to the envelope, and Luna put the envelope into her bag to post later. Smiling with the satisfaction of a job well done, Luna practically skipped out of the library to go to her Potions lesson.

* * *

After dinner, Luna was on her way back to the Ravenclaw tower when she bumped into Harry.

"Hi Luna," he grinned.

"Hello Harry," she replied, "how did your detention go?"

He rolled his eyes.

"Potions papers and sarcastic remarks."

"You know, Harry," she said, "perhaps you should have controlled your temper. Pansy was trying to provoke you and Hermione, you see."

Harry frowned.

"I know," he sighed, "it's just… I find it really hard to keep my temper in those situations."

Luna patted him on the arm comfortingly.

"But that's quite good, really, Harry! It just means you have an instinct for defending your friends!"

He smiled at that.

"Like you," he said.

That made Luna feel a little self-conscious. Harry was looking at her oddly.

"Luna…" he said hesitantly.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Slughorn's having a Christmas party for the Slug Club and he's really insisting that I go. Would you like to come with me? As a friend?"

Luna beamed.

"Of course, Harry! I'd love to! Nobody's ever invited me to something as a friend before!"

For some reason, that made him frown for a second. Then he smiled.

"Brilliant!"

Before he could say anything more, Peeves zoomed out of a nearby classroom, cackling as he flew overhead.

"Potty asked Loony on a date! Potty _lurves_ Loony!"

He sped off, shouting "Potty loves Loony" all the way.

Luna and Harry looked at each other.

"It's nice to keep these things private," he winked.

Luna started to giggle.

**A/N: straying dangerously close to canon again at the end there… :P**


	12. The Point Of Prefects

**The Point Of Prefects**

"_Don't ask me how I knew—I suppose it was because it was just about the worst possible thing that was likely to happen."_

Terry Pratchett – _The Colour of Magic_

After talking to Luna on the corridor, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione and Ginny were sitting on the sofa talking, pointedly ignoring Ron and Lavender, who were snogging in the corner. Harry sat down next to the girls and pulled out his Transfiguration homework.

"How was detention?" asked Ginny.

"Boring," he replied, "just sorting old Potions papers. No big deal."

Ginny smirked.

"He's teaching Defence and he can't let Potions go. Seems about right. He wants to be running everything."

Harry chuckled, and wrote in silence for a few minutes before he noticed Ginny nudging Hermione. He ignored this, assuming it had something to do with Ron and Lavender, but then Hermione cleared her throat.

"Um… Harry?"

He looked up. She had a determined expression on her face, which gave him the sinking feeling that he was in for another lecture on his reaction to Pansy's provocation, although why Ginny was encouraging Hermione was beyond him.

"Ginny and I – OK, it was mostly me – well, I was thinking…" she took a deep breath and when she resumed her voice was much more business-like and bossy. "As you know, I had planned to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with Ron. Since he has _clearly_ changed his mind about that, and I'm certain that you haven't done anything about asking any girls you like" – Harry could have sworn that her eyes flickered towards Ginny for a fraction of a second – "and, furthermore, I know that lots of the younger girls want to go with you, there are rumours of girls ordering love potions from the twins and everything, I was thinking that maybe we should go together. Just as friends, of course."

Harry grinned at the speed with which Hermione had said all of that.

"Well… as their main financial backer, I really think I should have a word with Fred and George about who they're selling their products to. As for the party, I'm afraid I already asked someone to go with me and they said yes."

Ginny and Hermione gaped.

"Who?" they demanded simultaneously.

"Um… Luna. I bumped into her on the way back from detention, and we had a chat, and I asked her to go. As friends, you know. She was really pleased, said she'd never been asked to something as a friend before. Which is a shame, she's really great."

Hermione looked nonplussed. Ginny, however, was smiling.

"That's really nice of you, Harry!" she said. "I'm glad you asked Luna, she deserves to have some fun."

"She _is_ rather odd, though…" began Hermione, but Ginny cut her off.

"I think she's _lovely_," she said, "and she stood up to Snape."

Harry nodded.

"She's pretty brave," he said, "and she's quite smart once you get to know her. I think a lot of the time when people think she's being dotty it's just that they can't follow her logic."

Hermione bit her lip, but nodded. For some reason, Ginny seemed to be smirking. Before Harry could ponder this, however, Dean joined them. He started talking to Harry about tactics for the match against Hufflepuff, and Harry joined in eagerly, putting his homework aside for the time being. It was funny, really, but he felt perfectly friendly towards his fellow Gryffindor sixth-year now, only a few days after wanting to rip him limb-from-limb.

* * *

The next morning, Harry was finishing his breakfast when he noticed Luna enter the Great Hall. He was surprised to see her arriving so late, and watched her as she walked over to the Ravenclaw table. She was about to sit down when he realised that she was barefoot. Abandoning the rest of his food, he heading over to her, noticing Neville's appraising gaze following him across the room.

"You OK?" he asked without preamble when he reached her.

"Oh, yes," she smiled, but he noticed that she seemed less serene than usual, "I was just a little flustered this morning."

He sat down next to her.

"I noticed you're barefoot. Stuff going missing again?"

She nodded sadly.

"All my footwear has disappeared, I'm afraid."

"Any idea who's behind it?" he frowned.

"Not really, although it must be someone in Ravenclaw, mustn't it?"

She sighed slightly, and he put his arm around her awkwardly, giving her a squeeze.

"Don't worry, Luna," he said, more certain than he felt, "we'll get your stuff back."

Her silver eyes widened so much that they looked like Sickles.

"You mean you'll help?"

"Of course," he grinned, feeling a pang of pity for the reasons behind her surprise, "that's what friends are for."

She beamed.

* * *

Harry had Charms first period, and he spent most of the class mulling over how best to help Luna, safe in the knowledge that in a room full of people practising spells, one barely-attentive student probably wouldn't be noticed. He ducked to avoid a misaimed spell from Parvati, who mouthed "sorry!" across the classroom at him. He grinned back at her and Padma to assure them it was fine, and then it hit him. Padma. It was obvious, really.

After class, he abandoned Hermione and ran to catch the Patil twins as they were going out the door.

"Padma!" he called, "Hang on!"

The girls stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"What is it, Harry?" asked Padma. She seemed curious, which was understandable since they really had very little contact outside of classes and the previous year's DA meetings.

"Could I have a quick word? In private? Sorry, Parvati," he added apologetically.

"You know, Harry," Parvati replied, barely keeping a straight face, "the only reason I'm not giggling right now is that I heard you asked Loony to go to the Slug Club party with you."

"Her name is _Luna_," snapped Harry irritably.

Parvati had the good grace to look a little sheepish at that.

"Sorry," she mumbled, "I guess it is a bit mean to call her that. I'll just, uh, wait over here, shall I?"

Harry turned to Padma.

"And on that note… Did you see Luna this morning?"

"No," said Padma, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"She was barefoot."

Padma frowned.

"I know she's a little odd, but I don't see why she would –"

"That's because she _didn't_ choose to go barefoot," interjected Harry, "someone's been nicking her stuff. I know for a fact this happened last year too. She was putting up notices asking for it back just before the Leaving Feast."

Padma looked shocked, and Harry pressed on.

"She's my friend. She fought Death Eaters beside me last summer, and she stood up to Snape. She was in the DA with you and a bunch of other Ravenclaws. Do you think she deserves this?"

She shook her head.

"I know what it feels like to be bullied, and I know what it feels like to have most of the population of this school assuming I'm crazy. Believe me, it's not pleasant. So I thought you might be able to help, given that you're a Prefect."

Padma nodded.

"I'm really sorry, Harry," she replied. "I had no idea this was going on. It's my job as a Prefect to look after the students in my house, and I've messed up. I'll get it sorted. Today."

"Really?" beamed Harry. "That's faster than I expected!"

Padma chuckled at his surprise, clearly happy to be doing the right thing.

"Come on, Harry," she grinned, "what's the point of Prefects if we can't deal with a few unpleasant idiots? Ask Hermione, I bet she'd agree. Besides, I'm in Ravenclaw for a reason. I've already thought of a plan."

She winked roguishly at him and went to rejoin her sister.


	13. A Ravenclaw Reads The Riot Act

**A Ravenclaw Reads The Riot Act**

**Or,**

**The Patil Prefect's Perfect Plan Prevails**

_Do unto others before they do unto you._

Terry Pratchett – _Small Gods_

"_For when our plan succeeds –"_

" – _Prevails!" _

Team StarKid – 'Different As Can Be', _A Very Potter Musical_

That evening, Padma Patil strode purposefully towards the Ravenclaw tower. She was determined to put a stop to the bullying of Luna, and quite ashamed that she had hardly noticed it before Harry had brought it to her attention. _The DA was about making a difference and defending each other because the Ministry and the education system was letting us down_, she thought angrily. _Well, I'm part of the problem now. The Prefects are part of the system at Hogwarts, and we're here to deal with petty misdemeanours and act as the first line of defence against bullying. _How_ didn't I notice this? And why didn't Luna feel that she could talk to me about it?_

Truth be told, she was seething. She had known that there were bullies in Hogwarts, but she had childishly assumed it was a Slytherin thing. That's where most of the obnoxious rich pure-bloods were, and she'd seen them in action, usually picking on high-achieving Muggle-borns like Hermione Granger. And there was Malfoy's endless feud with Harry, of course, which had apparently started on the Hogwarts express in September '91. She had to admit that that was impressive. Arriving from the Muggle world, where you didn't know a single wizarding child, and making an enemy before you even got Sorted? It _had_ to be some sort of record.

She stormed into the common room (she had already checked that Luna was safely out of the way in the library).

"All the fifth-, sixth- and seventh-years stay here. Everyone else, clear out for a few minutes," she tapped her Prefect badge for emphasis, "_Now_."

She had calculated that the students in the top three years were the most likely to be involved in bullying Luna, since they were the people who had known her since she was in first year, and Harry seemed to think that this had been going on for a few years. Hopefully some of them who weren't involved would have the maturity to back her up. She waited until the last of the younger students had left (a couple of first-years giving her frightened glances as they exited) and then stood in silence, watching the other students.

Cho spoke first.

"What's this about, Padma? Is it serious? Only I've a huge Transfiguration essay to write…"

"_Luna Lovegood_," snapped Padma, "Luna is what this is about."

Terry Boot frowned.

"Is something wrong with her?"

"I haven't spoken to Luna directly about this," replied Padma, "but I was approached this morning by Harry Potter. Harry is a friend of Luna's, and he was concerned because all her footwear had been stolen. Apparently a lot of her possessions were stolen last year, and she was putting up signs asking for their return just before the Leaving Feast. Now, this is my second year as a Prefect. Luna knows who I am, and I would hope she knows that I'd look out for her, but she hasn't reported it to me. I assume she hasn't spoken to you about it either, Anthony."

He shook his head and she continued.

"Right, so she didn't report it. I highly doubt she was too afraid to do so. Therefore I must assume that she considered it a regular occurrence, which leaves me with two questions," she paused for effect, "how long and who."

She looked around at the stunned faces of her fellow-students, scanning each expression for any indication of guilt.

"Let me tell you something about Luna Lovegood. Remember last year? When the _Prophet_ was telling everybody that Harry was nuts" – she felt a twinge of guilt for having doubted him herself – "and Umbridge was ruining everything? Well, Luna stood up for Harry. She believed in him. And I'm sure you've all heard of Dumbledore's Army standing up to Umbridge last year. Luna was a member. So was I. And Luna did much more than I did. She went to the Ministry with Harry and a few others and fought Death Eaters. Didn't you hear all the stories about You-Know-Who and Bellatrix Lestrange being involved in a fight in the Ministry, and a bunch of Death Eaters being arrested? Harry says Luna was _there_ with him. So let me tell you all, picking on her was a _very_ stupid idea. Because DA members stick together. Not to mention Harry. You know, Harry Potter? The Boy-Who-Lived? Beat You-Know-Who when he was a baby? Has faced him again since? Killed a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office? Triwizard Champion? The guy who taught the DA how to fight? Yeah, whoever you are, you've pissed him off. Congratulations."

She paused to let this sink in, noticing that one of the fifth-year girls was squirming. Cho, Terry, Michael and Anthony looked at each other and then stood up.

"We were in the DA too," said Cho, "and we're with Padma. Whoever's picking on Luna needs to lay off."

This earned her a glare from Marietta, but Padma put that down more to fact that the word 'SNEAK' was still visible on her face beneath layers of make-up than anything to do with Luna. She was pleased, really, she hadn't expected such a strong reaction from the other former DA members. This was good, and good for Luna's future too.

At that point Su Li muttered "I don't see what all the fuss is about, it's only Loony."

Emboldened, the guilty-looking fifth-year, who Padma was pretty sure was called Melanie, nodded.

"It's just a bit of fun," she said.

"Fun?" snapped Padma. "It might be fun for _you_ – and if it is then quite frankly you're as bad as Draco Malfoy – but d'you really think it's fun for Luna? Harry said she spent the day barefoot! It's the middle of November, for Merlin's sake! The poor girl must be freezing!"

Probably-Melanie flinched. Su Li stood up and opened her mouth, but Michael and Cho drew their wands and she sat back down abruptly.

"I want all of Luna's possessions returned to her before breakfast tomorrow, is that clear? And this is not to happen again. The next time someone in this house bullies somebody else, Anthony and I will be going directly to Professor Flitwick, and you can all make sure that the younger students hear that too. I will _not_ tolerate this sort of behaviour."

She glared at everyone until she was satisfied that they were taking her seriously.

"I'm going to bed. When I get up tomorrow morning, this had better be resolved, or you'll both be hearing from the DA before you hear from me or Flitwick. Harry doesn't like people picking on his friends."

With that parting shot, she swept from the room, pleased that she'd started to make up for her failure to do her job as a Prefect.

**A/N: These chapter titles are getting a little out-of-hand, but I enjoy coming up with them, and they **_**do**_** have added alliterative appeal…**

**Props to Vukk for working out Padma's plan!**


	14. Rita's Return

**Rita's Return**

_It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done. A person ignorant of the possibility of failure can be a halfbrick in the path of the bicycle of history._

Terry Pratchett – _Equal Rites_

When Luna woke up the next morning, she found a neat pile of shoes and socks at the end of her bed. Next to them was a folded piece of parchment. She picked it up and opened it.

_We are very sorry for taking your stuff. It won't happen again._

Luna grinned. Turning around, she saw Padma Patil standing in the doorway watching her and smiling slightly. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"Was this you?" she asked "Did you get whoever it was to return my stuff?"

"Yeah, I spoke to some people," the Prefect replied, holding up a hand to forestall Luna's response, "but don't thank me. It was Harry who told me that people were nicking your stuff; I hadn't even noticed, and I can only apologise. It's my job to deal with bullies, and I messed up."

"Oh, well, that's quite alright. I never asked you for help, after all," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone of voice, "thank you for helping me."

Padma looked a little happier at that.

* * *

When Luna got to the Great Hall for breakfast, the first thing she did was scan the Gryffindor table for Harry. When she spotted him, she ran over and gave him a big hug.

"Um, hi Luna," he said, somewhat awkwardly, "what's up?"

She looked around at his friends, and noticed that Neville was smirking and Seamus Finnegan had choked on his pumpkin juice. Perhaps she shouldn't have hugged him, maybe his friends would make fun of him for it later or something. But Ginny was smiling at her in an encouraging way, so she turned back to Harry.

"I got all of my things back," she said happily, "Padma told me you'd gone to her about it, and she had a word with the rest of the Ravenclaws. Thank you!"

Parvati and Hermione looked at each other.

"So _that's_ what you wanted to talk to Padma about yesterday!" exclaimed Parvati.

"Which is why you ran off on me after class," added Hermione, "good thinking, Harry!"

"Always the tone of surprise," he smirked.

Luna chortled at the indignant expression on Hermione's face.

"Well, thank you, Harry. I'd love to stay and chat, but I really must go and have some breakfast."

As she walked away, she noticed Harry's friends put their heads together and start chatting. Presumably they were discussing Harry's solution to the problem of her stolen possessions.

She had just started her breakfast when Augustus the school owl arrived with a package from her father. She opened it to find the latest issue of the _Quibbler_ and a letter.

_Dear Luna,_

_I have enclosed this month's _Quibbler_, which contains my editorial on issues with teachers at Hogwarts. I hope that it goes some way to raising awareness. As per your admirable suggestion in your last letter, I have contacted Rita Skeeter about writing something for the _Daily Prophet_, as she might be able to get more exposure. She seems interested, so hopefully that will go ahead soon._

_Please thank your friend Hermione Granger for me. Her list was most clear and concise._

_With love,_

_XL_

* * *

As the day wore on, Luna noticed a lot of students talking about the editorial. It seemed that a great many of Hogwarts' inhabitants had retained their _Quibbler_ subscriptions after the events of the previous year. That was gratifying, after all, they all had those subscriptions because of an interview with Harry that her father had published, and had been arranged by herself and Hermione. Rita Skeeter probably deserved some credit too, but Luna was loath to praise someone so lacking in any sense of integrity or journalistic ethics. By lunchtime, most of the student body were discussing her father's writing, and rumours were spreading as to both the identities of his sources and Snape's potential reaction to the piece. Several people had approached her fishing for information about the people behind the report, but she stuck to the principle of protecting your sources that her father had taught her and refused to be drawn. Besides, she didn't want to get Hermione in trouble.

It didn't occur to her until after lunch that the article might have made her a target. On her way to her Charms class, several Slytherins tried to trip her up and Millicent Bullstrode tried to cast a Severing Charm on her schoolbag, which would have significantly discommoded her were the girl capable of aiming. As it was, the spell bounced harmlessly off the wall and Luna ducked behind a tapestry and into one of Hogwarts' many hidden passages and took a short cut to class. She had discovered an awful lot of secret ways around the school during her solitary wanderings over her four-and-a-half years there, and they often came in handy for avoiding little difficulties.

Unfortunately, after Charms, she was stopped by Crabbe and Goyle on her way to her Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. They were probably the easiest Slytherins to deal with in such a situation, she reflected, as neither of them was particularly bright. A quick Disarming Charm on Crabbe was all it took, and she was able to duck beneath Goyle's outstretched arm and run around the corner while the duo were trying to catch Crabbe's wand. On the downside, the delay had made her a minute or two late for Defence, and by the time she reached the classroom everybody else was getting out their books and sitting down.

"I'm sorry I'm a little late, Professor," she began, "I was stopped by –"

"I do not want to hear excuses, Miss Lovegood," Snape interjected smoothly, "tardiness is not acceptable from Hogwarts students, as I am sure you are aware after over four years in this institution. Detention."

A smirk flashed across his face, almost too quickly to be seen, but Luna was very perceptive. He had clearly heard about her father's editorial.


	15. Of Detention, Draco and Dobby

**Of Detention, Draco And Dobby**

_Students, eh? Love 'em or hate 'em, you're not allowed to hit 'em with a shovel._

Terry Pratchett – _Making Money_

Harry hadn't noticed Luna at dinner, so afterwards he left Hermione with Ginny, saying he had something to do and running off before she could question him. He felt a little bad about having prioritised Luna over her a few times lately – asking Luna to the Christmas party, for example – when she was already without Ron, but he was certain that Luna wouldn't have missed dinner without a very good reason, so it was important to check up on her. He took the stairs up to the Gryffindor tower two at a time, sprinted up to his dorm and grabbed the Marauder's Map. Spotting her on a fourth-floor corridor, he headed in that direction, taking as many short-cuts as possible. By the time he caught up with her, she was clearly on the way back to the Ravenclaw tower. She looked around at the sound of his footsteps.

"Oh, hello, Harry," she said vaguely, "what are you doing here?"

"I was… um… looking for you, really…" When he said it out loud, it sounded stupid.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I noticed you weren't at dinner," he explained, "so I was a little concerned. I found you on this."

He held out the Map to her. She took it and glanced at it, and her already large silver eyes widened.

"But… this is _amazing_!" she said. "Where did you get it?"

"It's… a long story," he grinned, "in my third year, my aunt and uncle wouldn't let me sign my Hogsmeade permission form, so Fred and George gave me the Map so I could sneak into the village. They'd stolen it from Filch, and Filch had confiscated it from the makers."

"And who were they?"

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," he replied, "or, to give them their real names, which I only found out at the end of the year: Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter."

Her eyes widened still further.

"You mean… your father and his friends made this? You're so lucky, Harry! It's a wonderful thing to have."

He smiled at that, and then remembered the other part of his father's legacy. Leaning in, he whispered:

"Dad also left me an Invisibility Cloak, that's how Ron, Hermione and I have managed to do so much stuff after curfew in the past."

Luna actually clapped her hands with glee.

"Of course," he winked, "you can't tell anyone. Imagine if Malfoy knew about this stuff. It's bad enough that Snape does!"

He saw Luna frown at the mention of Snape's name.

"That's why I missed dinner, you know," she said, "he gave me detention again. I had a run-in with Crabbe and Goyle and it made me slightly late for class."

Now it was Harry's turn to frown.

"But… I was late for one of his classes once and he took five points, and he _hates_ me. That doesn't make sense."

Luna patted him on the arm.

"I think he must have heard about Daddy's editorial," she sighed.

"Yeah," said Harry, "that makes sense. Vindictive git."

Luna's stomach growled and Harry remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since lunch.

"Come with me," he grinned, "I know where to get you some food."

"But dinner's over, Harry," she replied sadly, "that's it for the day."

"I know," he said with a smile, "which is why you and I are going to the kitchens."

Luna looked surprised for a fraction of a second, and then smirked at him.

"You really have done rather a lot of exploring after hours, haven't you?"

Harry laughed.

"Little bit, yeah."

They walked along in silence for a few minutes, and Harry was slightly surprised at how comfortable he felt in Luna's presence. After all, she could be quite odd, and in the past he had felt awkward when she started talking about some of the strange stuff she believed. Ron and Hermione probably still felt that way about her, but he had become a bit more accepting. After all, she had a point. Seven years ago he would have dismissed centaurs and werewolves as impossible, yet now he knew Lupin and Firenze. Besides, she was fun and clever and relaxing to be around, and above all else _interesting_. With her Butterbeer-cork charm, her wand tucked carefully behind her ear and her round silver eyes, she didn't look or act like anyone else Harry knew. She was absolutely unique, very intelligent, and full of information and opinions on everything under the sun, and managed to be all of that while also being good at practical magic. In a way, smart, active Luna was the polar opposite of smart, bookish Hermione. _And not just in that way, either_, he thought wryly, _look at the way she believes in stuff versus Hermione's need to read about something in a book before she admits it's real_.

"Harry?" said Luna, breaking in on his train of thought, "aren't the kitchens downstairs?"

He started and looked around. He had walked right past the staircase and off onto another corridor.

"Whoops," he said, blushing slightly, "I lost track…"

She smiled up at him.

"Perhaps it was a Wrackspurt. You certainly seemed very distracted. They have that effect, you know."

He shrugged. It was probably better to agree than to explain that he'd been mentally critiquing her, although come to think of it, he hadn't been all that critical.

"Could've been."

She smiled and took his hand.

"Lead the way, Harry. I'm really quite hungry."

As they walked down the stairs, he began to fill her in on his theories about Malfoy. Unlike Ron and Hermione, she didn't scoff at his Draco-is-a-Death-Eater idea, although she did gently point out that he was prone to blaming Malfoy for pretty much anything that went wrong in Hogwarts. He ruefully admitted that she had a point, and they continued the conversation in good spirits, speculating as to whether the Slytherin Prefect had really been branded with a Dark Mark, debating the ways in which he could have got the cursed necklace to Katie and pondering his potential intentions. Before Harry knew it, they had reached the painting of the fruit bowl that concealed the entrance to the kitchens. He tickled the pear, grasped it when it turned into a doorknob and swung open the door. The House Elves were bustling around cleaning up after dinner, but there was no sign of Dobby. Then Harry heard a squeal from his left, and turning around he saw the elf running towards him, arms outstretched for a hug.

"Harry Potter!" beamed Dobby, "How are you? Dobby is not seeing you down here for a while. Dobby trusts your studies are going well?"

Harry grinned.

"Yeah, Dobby, everything's great! How have you been?"

"Dobby has been excellent! I has been buying new socks, and recently I is buying some charmed ones from Weezy's Wizarding Wheezes. They makes sounds and everything!"

"That's brilliant!" laughed Harry. "I wish Fred and George had shown me them when I was in the shop a few months ago!"

Dobby turned to Luna, bowing deeply.

"And who is your friend, Master Harry?"

"Dobby, this is my friend Luna. Luna Lovegood. She was in the DA last year. Luna, this is Dobby. We've been friends for a while. He helped me out a lot in my second year."

"I'm very pleased to meet you, sir," said Luna, shaking Dobby's hand.

Dobby's smile grew so wide it looked like the top of his head was in danger of falling off.

"Harry Potter's friend is just as kind and noble as he is! How may I help Harry Potter's Miss Luna?"

Harry saw Luna blush (an odd occurrence on her usually pale complexion), presumably at Dobby's sheer enthusiasm, and decided to intervene.

"Luna missed dinner, Dobby, so I was wondering if –"

"– Say no more, Harry Potter! What is Miss Luna wanting?"

"Could I have some pudding, please, Mr Dobby?"

"Yes, Miss Luna. We has many types of pudding for you to try!"

"Well, then, I would like some rice pudding and some treacle tart. Treacle tart's my favourite."

"Really?" grinned Harry. "Mine too!"

Dobby sped away, returning almost instantly with a bowl of rice pudding and two slices of treacle tart. He handed the second slice to Harry, and stood there smiling happily at the sight of the duo devouring their food.

"Thank you very much," said Luna, licking her spoon in an absent-minded manner, "that was very kind of you."

"Any time, Miss Luna!" squeaked Dobby. "A friend of Harry Potter's is a friend of Dobby's!"

He bowed deeply as they left the kitchens.

"So…" began Luna as they headed back upstairs, "how do you know Dobby?"

"Back in my second year he kept warning me that bad things were happening, he kept doing crazy stuff to try and protect me and then having to punish himself for disobeying his master's orders. At the end of the year I found out that he was working for the Malfoys and he really wanted to be free, so I tricked Draco's father into freeing him. We've been friends ever since, and he's been working in Hogwarts for the last few years."

Luna looked impressed.

"You certainly know many interesting people," she said, "and I'm glad you helped free him."

"Most House Elves don't want to be freed though," he replied. "I know one who was completely traumatised and became an alcoholic as a result of being fired. Hell, I own a House Elf. I hate him. I don't want to own him. But I can't free him because he'd just run off and find a new master."

"Would that be so bad?" asked Luna with a frown.

"Well, yeah. When Sirius died, he left me everything. The Black family home. All the Blacks' stuff. The family House Elf, Kreacher. He was always a pain. He and Sirius hated each other. See, the Blacks… they were an old pure-blood family. They believed pure-bloods were superior. Sirius was kind of the black sheep. By the time he reclaimed the family home, the summer before my fifth year, there were only four surviving potential Black heirs. He was one, the others were his three cousins."

He wasn't sure why he was telling Luna this, but it made him feel better to talk about it.

"Yeah, three cousins. Sisters. Bellatrix Black, or Bellatrix Lestrange these days. Andromeda Black. She married a Muggle-born and got disinherited. Tonks is her daughter. And Narcissa Black, Malfoy's mother. So Kreacher had spent his life working for pure-blood supremacists and he believed that Sirius was a disgrace to the family name, so when Narcissa and Bellatrix got him to do a little work on the side, he was all too happy to oblige, and technically they were family so he wasn't betraying Sirius. In terms of how House Elves view their contracts, that is. He was totally betraying Sirius."

"How do you mean?" asked Luna, looking intrigued.

He knew his voice sounded staccato, that this was coming out wrong because it upset him. He took a deep breath and tried to form proper sentences as he continued.

"Well, Voldemort knew that I was able to see inside his head sometimes. So remember that vision I had? The one of Sirius being tortured? The reason we all went to London?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, well, that was fake. You know that, Malfoy said it at the time. _Mistress Bella and Mistress Cissy_, as Kreacher calls them, had found out that Sirius was someone I cared about, and the vision was bait. But there was more to it than that, Kreacher didn't just give them information. They knew I'd try to check up on Sirius. So when Hermione and I used Umbridge's fireplace and you were on lookout, Kreacher had created a distraction to keep Sirius upstairs, so when I flooed his kitchen fire nobody was there but Kreacher, and Kreacher lied. Told me Sirius had gone to the Ministry. Kreacher helped set the trap, and I was dumb enough to fall for it and take the word of somebody I knew was untrustworthy, someone who called Hermione a Mudblood. And now I've inherited him because of his act of betrayal and I _have_ to keep him. If I fire him, he'll just go and give all the Order's secrets to Bellatrix."

He sighed. On the one hand, it was a relief to talk about it, to express all the anger at Kreacher that had come surging back and been repressed when Dumbledore had told him he owned the elf. On the other hand, he didn't know what to do with the anger and talking about his own role in Sirius' death was upsetting. To his surprise, Luna slipped her hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

"It's alright to feel upset, Harry," she said softly, "but you can't keep blaming yourself. Would your godfather want you to feel bad all the time? You said earlier that he helped invent your map. He sounds a bit like one of the Weasley twins, so he would want you to have fun, wouldn't he?"

Harry couldn't help but cheer up a little at that.

"You're right, Luna. He _would_ want me to have fun. And here I am, having fun with you."

She beamed.

"Oh, I _am_ glad! I was rather concerned that what with one thing and another I was being a bit of a bore, given that my priority was eating."

"Don't worry," he replied with a smile, "I always have fun with you."

"Well," she said seriously, "you were with me in the Department of Mysteries and I don't think that was fun."

"Yeah, but in general… you know, under normal circumstances…"

She started to giggle and he realised that she had been teasing him. She really was something else, and he was never quite sure what she was thinking. If he had been dealing with someone else, that might have produced a desire to learn Legilimency, but Harry was perfectly content to let Luna puzzle and surprise him: it was part of what made her so much fun to be around. He walked along with her for a few minutes until she stopped at a point where two corridors intersected.

"Well, Harry," she said gently, "I'm afraid I must go to the library to do some homework. Thank you very much for pudding, and for introducing me to Dobby."

With that, she left, and it was only the sudden absence of a comforting, warm pressure in his right hand that made Harry realise that he had been holding her hand all the way from the kitchens to the third floor.


	16. Things That Happened

**Things That Happened**

_All this happened, more or less._

Kurt Vonnegut – _Slaughterhouse-five_

Harry was heading back towards the Gryffindor tower when he spotted Dumbledore walking towards him. He stopped, surprised at seeing the Headmaster wandering the corridors.

"Hello, Professor!" he called.

Dumbledore looked up, saw him and smiled.

"Why, hello, Harry. Might I ask what has been keeping you from your studies this evening?" he said with a twinkle in his eye. "It's quite unusual to see you wandering the corridors this close to curfew. Without your Invisibility Cloak and at least one of Miss Granger and Mr Weasley in tow, that is."

Harry wondered briefly if he should lie: he was pretty sure students weren't supposed to go to the kitchens, and he didn't want to get Luna or Dobby in trouble. He decided not to bother, however, given that Dumbledore always seemed to see through his falsehoods anyway.

"I brought my friend Luna – you know her, don't you? – down to the kitchens to get some food, sir. She missed dinner because Snape gave her another detention."

Dumbledore frowned slightly at this.

"Do you know why _Professor_ Snape put Miss Lovegood in detention?" he enquired.

"Yeah, you know her dad wrote an editorial that was critical of Sn – sorry, of Professor Snape? Well, the Slytherins aren't too happy about that. Apparently she had a bit of a run-in with Malfoy's pet thugs and it made her late for Defence class, so she got detention."

"Hmm… Tonks mentioned an incident involving a Slytherin girl to me before…" replied Dumbledore thoughtfully.

"Yeah," said Harry with a trace of bitterness, "Millicent Bullstrode. She's in my year."

"Well," the Headmaster responded, with the twinkle returning to his eyes "I'm glad to see that you're looking out for Miss Lovegood's welfare, Harry. Friendship is one of the things that sets us apart from Voldemort, after all."

"Yeah, well, that's great, but couldn't you rein Snape in or something? At least get him to keep his house in line?"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"I will, of course, talk to Professor Snape about his students' treatment of Miss Lovegood. But there is no need for me to 'rein him in'. Professor Snape's personal dislike of you and your father is problematic, I know, but it is not appropriate to extrapolate your issues with him into a difficulty affecting the entire student body. Now, I have some business to attend to, so goodnight, Harry."

With that, he swept off.

* * *

Hermione was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, reading a hefty tome entitled _Potion-Making in Theory and Practice: An Academic Approach_ in the hope that it would help her keep up with Harry's sudden talent for Potions, when Ginny flopped down beside her, exhaling loudly.

"Who annoyed you now?" asked Hermione, not even bothering to look up.

"I'm not annoyed!" the redhead replied indignantly. "I just have some juicy gossip to impart."

Hermione sighed and snapped the book shut.

"What?"

"Well… I was leaving the library when I bumped into Luna. She had detention with Snape across dinner, so I was pretty surprised to see her in a good mood. She stopped for a chat and I found out why."

She showed no signs of continuing the story without prompting from her audience, so Hermione rolled her eyes and asked why.

"Three guesses," smirked Ginny.

"Well, since she _definitely_ hasn't found proof of the existence of any of the _ridiculous_ creatures she believes in, and I highly doubt Snape cancelled the detention, it obviously has something to do with Harry."

Ginny smiled wryly.

"You've noticed it too, then. Yeah, apparently Harry noticed she wasn't at dinner and went looking for her, and he brought her down to the kitchens to get food and introduced her to some House Elf he's friends with, I assume it's the House Elf who he freed from the Malfoys the year…" she paused for a second, "…in my first year, I mean. And then apparently they had a bit of a chat about Sirius dying and stuff, or something. Didn't sound very cheerful to me, but she seemed to have had a good time, and at least he's finally having the sense to talk to _someone_ about this stuff."

Hermione nodded.

"That sounds like Dobby, alright, and he _does_ work here at Hogwarts. He was the one who came to the Room of Requirement to warn us that Marietta had sold us out. So, tell me… how do you feel about this?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny glibly.

"Don't give me that. I know there's still a part of you that fancies Harry, and you and I can both see that there's something starting to happen between him and Luna, although I doubt he realises it yet. Boys can be stupid like that."

"Not just boys," smirked Ginny, making Hermione feel a little uncomfortable. "But, yeah, I dunno… I've kind of had four years' worth of chances to make an impression on Harry, and so far I've finally got him to view me as a fairly close friend," she shrugged, "besides, I'm not hanging around pining after Harry. I'm happy with Dean. Why shouldn't Harry be happy with someone if he gets a chance? His one and only relationship so far was a…" she paused, searching for the right word, "a disaster."

Hermione chuckled at that.

"He prefers 'fiasco'," she smirked.

Ginny laughed out loud, but stopped abruptly when Hermione added "I suppose you're right. He seems very happy spending time with Luna, and I _did_ advise you to move on."

Before the redhead could reply, Colin Creevey, who was passing, interrupted.

"Are you talking about Luna Lovegood? I saw her and Harry a few minutes ago, and they were holding hands!"

Hermione and Ginny exchanged a glance.

"Probably best not to talk about that too much, Colin. Harry has enough on his plate these days without having to deal with more gossip," said Ginny gently.

"Of course!" smiled the fifth-year, "Wouldn't dream of spreading gossip about Harry!"

At that point, Harry climbed in through the portrait hole and was hailed by Ron, so they hastily changed the subject.

* * *

"I _know_ you have to maintain your cover, Severus, but you still need to make _some_ effort to keep Slytherin House in line!"

Snape opened his mouth to reply, but Dumbledore ploughed on.

"Furthermore, I do _not_ want to see you taking out your dislike of James and Harry on Harry's friends, and while I realise that it's probably too late to stop you doing so with Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, you could at least refrain from continuing the pattern with Miss Lovegood! At least her friendship seems to be bringing Harry some much-needed comfort, and she's bullied enough as it is! I had a complaint from Tonks about one of your students attacking Miss Lovegood in the corridor and everything!"

Dumbledore saw Snape's mouth set in a thin, hard line and, sensing the inevitable snide remark about the lack of comfort and presence of bullying in Snape's own life, hastily dismissed him from the office.

* * *

Ron strolled up the stairs to his dorm, still grinning slightly after Lavender's _very_ demonstrative goodnight kiss. He'd been grinning a lot, lately. He'd earned his fun, after all, been the good friend and to all intents and purposes the good sidekick. Actually, Harry had been grinning a lot this evening, which was reasonably unusual these days. He wondered what that was about. Probably Loony. She and Harry had been spending a lot of time together lately, and despite what bloody Hermione might think Ron wasn't _stupid_. He resolved to try gently teasing Harry about it and see what reaction he got. He'd found that that was a pretty reliable method of gauging one of the lads' feelings for a girl. He chuckled slightly. If he was right, he had no doubt that Peeves would eventually come up with a song about "Potty and Loony". Poor Harry.


	17. Learning To Listen

**Learning To Listen**

"_I know lots of things. People think I don't but I really do. I know more about us than any of us. That's just one of the things I know."_

Neil Gaiman – _The Sandman: The Kindly Ones_

A little over a fortnight had passed since Hermione had seen Harry arriving back into the common room having brought Luna to the kitchens. As the days had gone by, she had made a real effort to pay even closer attention to Harry's behaviour around Luna and the results had been interesting to say the least. He was spending quite a bit of time with her each day, stopping to talk to her on the corridors and seeking her out for chats after dinner. He seemed more relaxed and upbeat than he had for quite some time, possibly even since Cedric's death. Not to mention that fact that he was spending far less time obsessing over whether or not Malfoy was a Death Eater – a possibility that Hermione considered marginally less likely than the chance that the twins would ever get the money Ludo Bagman owed them - which could only be a good thing. Privately, she suspected that Ginny wasn't quite as happy with the whole situation as she claimed, but there was nothing that anybody could do about it and Ginny had rebuffed her attempts at starting a conversation on the topic.

Saturday had dawned bright and crisp and cold, and when Hermione had looked out the window of the sixth-year girls' dorm she had seen a pristine layer of snow on the grounds. She dressed hastily in order to have left the dorm by the time Lavender awoke, as was her habit these days, and hurried down to the common room. Harry and Ginny were already there, animatedly discussing the possibility of getting Slughorn drunk at the Christmas party and getting him to tell them his plans for further Slug Club gatherings to ensure that they could schedule their Quidditch training timetable so that a prearranged session coincided with every single one.

"Honestly," she sniffed, "it's not like they're that bad or anything. He's just a bit old and self-important."

Harry snorted.

"I already had to put up with Lockheart for a year, I don't need someone else trying to use me to bolster their own reputation."

Hermione frowned.

"I don't think that's quite it… I mean, yes, Slughorn likes being around the talented and famous, but he likes helping them too. Introducing them to like-minded people and so on. I mean, you" here she nodded at Ginny, "must be pretty excited about that player from the Harpies being invited to the Christmas party, right?"

Ginny nodded.

"If it helps, Harry," Hermione continued, "think of it as being like the DA, but for succeeding in Wizarding society rather than fighting a war."

"Yeah," he smirked, "except Wizarding society's being pretty useless at the moment. Don't they know there's a war on?"

Hermione considered responding to that, but thought the better of it. He _did_ have a point, after all.

"Come on!" interjected Ginny. "Let's go and have breakfast quickly. Might as well take advantage of the snow while we can."

Hermione sighed. She had been hoping to get her Transfiguration essay finished over the course of the morning.

* * *

After breakfast, they ran back up to the tower to get their scarves, gloves and winter cloaks. When Hermione got down from her dorm to the common room, she found Ginny already there waiting.

"Harry's gone off. He said he'd meet us in the Entrance Hall," smirked the redhead. "Three guesses where he's gone."

"Either he spotted Malfoy on the Map or he's gone to get Luna," Hermione replied. "I suspect the latter."

Sure enough, when they reached the Entrance Hall, Harry and Luna were waiting for them. Luna was looking particularly odd in mismatched Muggle winter clothes: she had abandoned her heavy cloak in favour of a bulky sky-blue jacket, and was wearing a large orange woolly hat with a pom-pom, a multi-coloured scarf with sparkly tassels at each end, and bright purple gloves. However, if Harry thought she looked out-of-place he was certainly hiding it remarkably well for somebody who usually had all the emotional control of a six-year-old. _Which is still two years better than Ron_, she thought bitterly, but hastily pushed that problem to the back of her mind. When she had realised that she wouldn't be getting her essay done at least until after lunch, she had decided that she might as well have some well-earned fun, and no thoughtless ginger idiot was going to ruin that for her, no matter how attractive he looked when he smiled… _Stop it_, she told herself sternly.

She tuned into the others' conversation in time to hear Luna saying that "it would be rather pleasant to build a snowman, don't you think?"

Hermione was rather surprised when Harry agreed. She had suspected he wanted to have a snowball fight, and she wondered how much of his agreement had to do with wanting to please Luna, but then he remarked that he had never built one before. Luna gazed at him, her eyes wide, but all she said was "Oh, I see. Well, you can build one with us then! Although we'll have to be careful of the Venomous Snowbats."

She suddenly felt annoyed. Really? That was it? No concern? No asking _why_ he had never had a chance to build a snowman like any other child? Luna was in Ravenclaw, for Merlin's sake! They were supposed to be the smart house! Was she even going to be any good for Harry if she was that unconcerned by the implications of his statement? Although, Hermione reflected, it might not be a lack of concern but a lack of understanding. A lot of the time Luna seemed to be barely grounded in the real world, so perhaps she was so busy thinking about impossible creatures to realise that there was probably a story behind a sixteen-year-old boy who had never built a snowman. Still… Harry was bad enough at talking about his feelings, or about anything that had bothered him deeply. If Luna cared about him, she should be trying to draw him out.

She was so busy pondering the question of Luna and Harry that her initial efforts to help with the snowman were half-hearted at best, until Ginny elbowed her in the ribs and told her to cheer up. Ginny was right, she was supposed to be having fun, so she threw herself into the construction effort, and soon they were almost finished. Luna gathered pebbles to make facial features, and Hermione found some twigs for arms.

She had barely finished sticking the twigs into the snowman's torso, still thinking about Harry, when a snowball hit her in the back of the head. She spun around to see Harry and Ginny whistling innocently and Luna looking at her with an expression of vague curiosity, as if she were a mildly interesting crossword puzzle to be solved. She dismissed Luna as a potential culprit and returned her gaze to the other two. They both had snow on their hands, but so did she after building the snowman, so that was no good…

She spotted a hollowed-out patch in the snow in front of Harry's feet. Clearly he had bent down and scooped up the snowball from there. Bingo.

"Nice try, Harry," she said, smirking at his attempted look of surprised innocence, "but let's see how you do in a fair fight."

With that, she ducked behind the snowman and rolled up two snowballs of her own, sending them flying towards Harry. He dodged them both, but failed to notice Ginny sneaking up behind him with one of her own. It hit the back of his head, and he dived behind a tree. Luna giggled, flung a snowball of her own at Hermione, and then joined Harry sheltering behind the tree. From then on, the fight became Hermione and Ginny against Luna and Harry, and Hermione had to admit that it was the most fun she had had in quite some time. She couldn't help but notice, however, that Ginny saved her best-aimed and most forceful snowballs at Luna, and resolved to have a word with the youngest Weasley about that later on.

Watching Harry during the snowball fight was quite entertaining. His Seeker's reflexes should have given him an advantage – they were, after all, probably the reason he had dodged Hermione's first two throws – but he kept losing focus and looking at Luna, making him an easy target. After the third time in a row that Hermione had got him in the chest from point-blank range, Luna looked at Harry with some concern and asked him if "the Wrackspurts", whatever on Earth they were, had got to him. He blushed and stammered out a reply, and paid more attention to the game from then on.

Eventually, as their hands grew numb and their breathlessness increased, the four friends slowed down and eventually flopped on the ground with their backs to the tree, tired but happy. Hermione conjured a jar and started a magical fire inside it to keep them warm, and they sat contentedly for a few minutes. Then Luna glanced over at the edge of the Forest and her eyes widened slightly. She nudged Harry, and the two of them got up and walked towards a seemingly-empty patch of ground in front of the trees, where Luna began petting something invisible and waist-high.

"Bloody Thestrals," muttered Ginny.

Hermione frowned at her.

"They came in handy before, remember?" she replied, knowing perfectly well that Ginny remembered and that her problem wasn't with the Thestrals as much as with the fact that they were something that Harry and Luna had in common.

Ginny didn't respond, and Hermione looked back at the other two. They were talking in an undertone, or rather Harry was talking while Luna listened, her eyes growing wider and wider until eventually she leaned in and hugged him tightly. He grinned and hugged her back.

* * *

On the way back up to the school for lunch, Ginny engaged Harry in a conversation about Quidditch, something to do with how they would have to change their tactics for the game against Hufflepuff if Katie was still out of action. Hermione and Luna fell behind them, uninterested in the discussion (Hermione couldn't help but wonder if that was why Ginny had brought it up).

"It's a great shame that Harry had to be brought up by his aunt and uncle," said Luna without any preamble, "they sound very unpleasant."

There was something different about Luna's voice, and it took a moment to register what it was: she didn't sound dreamy or cheerful, there was a new edge of disapproval to her voice.

"You… you know about the Dursleys?" replied Hermione in surprise.

"Harry was telling me about them when we were saying hello to the Thestral foal," said Luna with a slight frown. "He was explaining why he had never built a snowman. I don't think he told me everything, but I expect he'll tell me more over time."

"Yes, well… Harry isn't very good at talking about stuff like that."

"Of course not," Luna responded. She had returned to her usual state of outward serenity.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"Well, he never got to talk to his parents, did he?" began Luna with the air of somebody considering a question from a professor. "And I know there are some other grown-ups that he's close to, like Ginny's parents and his Godfather and apparently Professor Lupin, but he doesn't really get to see much of them, and then of course Sirius was killed. So he's never had anyone to talk to about things that bother him. I suppose it just takes him more time to open up."

"It really does," nodded Hermione, "Ron and I have known him for five-and-a-half years and it can still be really hard to get him to talk."

"Perhaps you're going about it the wrong way," said Luna vaguely.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," the Ravenclaw replied, "Harry _does_ talk about things, it just takes him time. You have to let him know that you're willing to listen, but don't push him. Like earlier, when he said about never having built a snowman. He didn't want to tell me more then, I could tell. So I waited. Like with a frightened animal, almost. And then when he does tell you something, there's no need to tell him about how awful it is or offer a clever solution – although I'm sure you're very good at coming up with clever solutions," she added politely. "I think that sometimes he just needs a hug."

They had almost reached the castle door, and as Luna skipped up the steps she turned back to Hermione.

"He thinks you're a very good friend, you know. And I think you're very kind and very clever. But maybe you need to practice listening a bit. Oh, that reminds me, I must practice Vanishing Spells later."

With that, she disappeared through the door.

**A/N: Writing Hermione and Luna's interactions is fun, because they approach things from such differing perspectives. And don't worry, Ginny isn't going to stay in a huff and I'm not planning on engaging in character-bashing! As for that last bit, there was Luna, there was a door, there was a point that Luna was trying to make…** **it practically wrote itself :P**


	18. Slughorn's Spectacular Seasonal Shindig

**Slughorn's Spectacular Seasonal Shindig**

_"What're they playing at?" said Aziraphale.  
"I don't know," said Crowley, "but I think it's called silly buggers." His tone suggested that he could play, too. And do it better._

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman – _Good Omens_

On the evening of Slughorn's Christmas party, Harry changed into his emerald dress robes and headed to meet Luna. He avoided Ron's eye as he walked through the Gryffindor common room: Hermione had recently announced that she was going with bloody McLaggen, of all people, and Ron had been in a sulk ever since. Harry, quite frankly, did not want to get involved in Hermione's (seemingly-successful) attempt to make Ron jealous, and there was no way he was going to listen to Ron grumble about it again. Sometimes, having those two as best friends could be spectacularly trying.

He had arranged to meet Luna in the Entrance Hall, and as he got closer to his destination he found himself getting slightly nervous. He caught himself unnecessarily smoothing down his robes so that the Map and Cloak in his pockets didn't show (he had taken to carrying them around in the hope of catching Malfoy in the act of doing whatever it was he was doing) and couldn't figure out why he was reacting this way. It wasn't like it was a date or anything, and besides he would be with Luna, and he liked spending time with her. There was nothing to be nervous about. Nothing at all.

When he arrived, he found Luna waiting for him. She was wearing a set of spangled silver dress robes that echoed the silver in her eyes, and the overall impression she gave was one of ethereality. As he drew closer to her, he noticed that she was studiously examining the architecture of the ceiling to ignore the small clusters of resentful-looking girls throwing dirty glances her way. _Hermione might've had a point about the love potions thing_, he thought.

"Ready to go?" he asked, taking her arm.

"Oh, yes," she replied happily, "although you'll have to lead the way. I've never been to Professor Slughorn's office before."

As they left, he was certain he saw a dark-haired Gryffindor fourth-year glowering at them.

* * *

Slughorn's spacious office was hot and crowded. He had really pulled out all the stops for this. There were kegs of mead and butterbeer, and Harry was pretty certain he had spotted the bassist from the Weird Sisters sitting in a corner chatting with someone who looked like a junior Ministry official.

"Harry, m'boy!" boomed Slughorn, weaving his way through the crowd. Harry had to admit that his powers of observation were impressive; they had barely crossed the threshold and he was already collaring them. "And young Miss Lovegood too, delightful, delightful! Come with me, I have Miss Weasley waiting over here, I want to introduce you both to Gwenog Jones!"

Luna looked like she was going to hang back, so Harry took her hand. He wasn't sure how much of Horace Slughorn in full-on gracious host mode he could handle without moral support. She looked surprised, but pleased, and seemed perfectly happy to follow him over to where Ginny and Dean were standing awkwardly awaiting them.

"Perfect!" said Slughorn, reaching behind him and tapping a dark-skinned, dark-haired witch on the shoulder. "Gwenog! Here we have three of Gryffindor's best and brightest Quidditch players. May I introduce their Seeker and Captain, the one and only Harry Potter, along with their Chasers Ginevra Weasley and Dean Thomas?"

Gwenog Jones grinned at Harry.

"I had a few jars with Ollie Wood in a bar after the last match of the season last year, he told me about your skills on the field. Youngest player in a century is nothing to be sneezed at. Is it true that the only game you've played and lost involved you being attacked by Dementors?"

"Well…" he blushed, "it was less an attack than a pitch invasion, but yeah."

"Other Seeker got lucky, eh?" she winked.

"I wouldn't say that." said Harry, not really wanting to be reminded, but feeling it would be rude to refuse to talk about it. "He was a great player and a solid Captain. We were neck-and-neck, I fell off my broom, he caught the Snitch. He demanded a rematch, but Wood wouldn't hear of it."

"Demanded a rematch?" replied Gwenog. "That's some sportsmanship. I'd like to meet him someday."

"You can't," said Harry shortly. "He's dead. Murdered by Peter Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders a couple of minutes after he and I jointly won the Triwizard Tournament."

"Oh," she muttered, clearly embarrassed, although he noticed that she worked hard to hide an instinctive flinch at the mention of Voldemort's name, "I'm sorry, I didn't realise…"

"Not your fault," he said with a forced smile, feeling Luna giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, "but look, you should really be taking note of these two. They've both been in the team hardly any time at all and they're already brilliant. Besides," he added mischievously, "Ginny's a big fan."

Within about two minutes, Ginny and Gwenog were engaged in an animated conversation about the respective merits of witches versus wizards as Quidditch players. Harry made his escape, smirking at Dean, who rolled his eyes.

He stopped at the bar to get punch for Luna and himself, and almost tried to hide when he saw Professor Trelawney coming towards him. Seeing him flinch, Luna pulled him away hastily and asked him what was wrong. He began to explain about Trewlaney's habit of predicting his untimely death but was interrupted by Filch, who stormed into the party dragging Malfoy by the scruff of the neck.

"I caught this one sneaking around after curfew, Professor. Says 'e's been invited to this party, but he isn't carrying an invitation."

"Fine!" spat Malfoy, and Harry could see that he looked unusually pale and careworn, "I was trying to gatecrash! Happy?"

Snape stepped out of the crowd of revellers, looking oddly out-of-place amid the festive atmosphere.

"You should be in your common room, Draco, as well you know. Come with me."

He grabbed Malfoy and swept out of the room before anyone could react.

"Quickly!" Harry hissed at Luna, pulling out the Cloak. "Under this!"

"Ooooh!" she whispered. "Is that your father's cloak?"

He nodded, and she beamed.

* * *

They snuck down the corridor, keeping their ears peeled for the sound of Snape or Malfoy. Although Harry was used to sharing the Cloak with Ron and Hermione, sharing it with Luna was a new experience. They were huddled very close together, he might almost have said uncomfortably close except it was very comfortable. She was also holding his hand, which confused him so much that it took him a moment to register that the low voices coming from the classroom they were passing belonged to their quarry. He hastily pressed his ear to the door.

"…I promised your mother I would protect you!" Snape was saying. "I made an Unbreakable Vow!"

"Well, good luck with that," snarled Malfoy, "'cause it looks like you're going to have to break it! I don't _need_ your help! _He_ chose _me_, not you! I was picked for this, and I know I can do it!"

Snape sighed.

"You are being childish. I have no wish to steal your thunder. But the necklace was… unsubtle. And dangerous."

"Oh yeah? Prove it was me. And don't try Legilimency, Aunt Bella's been training me."

In his mind's eye, Harry could see Snape shrugging and rolling his eyes.

"So be it. I will continue to monitor your endeavours."

He opened the classroom door before Harry could react, but fortunately Luna had more presence of mind, and pushed him back against the wall. Snape strode past them without noticing anything amiss, and rejoined the party.

After a moment, Luna asked in an undertone whether he thought it was safe to follow suit, which made him realise that he was to all intents and purposes leaning against a wall with a pretty girl pushed up against him. He stammered out a response to the affirmative, and they slipped back into the room, only pulling off the Cloak when they got to a quiet corner behind a tapestry.

When they moved back out into the crowd, they were once again cornered by Slughorn.

"Harry!" he said, beckoning the two of them towards himself and Snape, "I was just congratulating Severus on his teaching methods! He taught you for five years, and look at how brilliant you are at Potions!"

"And I," sneered Snape, "was just about to say that I was certain I had never managed to teach Potter anything, or at least anything he retained for more than five minutes."

Slughorn recovered magnificently.

"Ah, well, it must be natural talent, then. Just like his mother!"

Snape glowered, and turned his attention to Luna.

"Miss Lovegood," he inclined his head in a mockery of politeness, "how unexpected to see you at an event for the talented students of Hogwarts. No further mishaps with the concepts of time and punctuality, I trust?"

Luna looked up at him, her expression uncharacteristically hard.

"No, Professor. Of course, that may be because I haven't been attacked by any more Slytherin students yet."

Slughorn gaped.

"Besides," interjected Harry, putting his arm around Luna "Luna _is_ talented. She wouldn't have survived fighting a bunch of Death Eaters including Doholov, Bellatrix Lestrange and Malfoy if she wasn't."

Snape surveyed the duo with raised eyebrows, but turned on his heel and swept off without further comment. Slughorn looked at Luna with newfound respect.

"Ah… Miss Lovegood, does this mean that you were involved in that little incident in the Ministry too? Fascinating, fascinating, although I suspect it's a story for another day."

With that, he waddled off to refill his empty flagon.

* * *

Harry and Luna spent the rest of the party enjoying themselves. They discussed Ron and Hermione's obvious feelings for each other, and their tendency to engage in what Uncle Vernon would call "playing silly buggers" rather than confront their emotions (although Luna did point out that "a lot of boys can be rather silly about that sort of thing", which for some reason made Harry's insides squirm for a second). They had another quick chat with Gwenog Jones, and said hello to the bassist from the Weird Sisters. Luna herself was a fount of fascinating conversation, from her somewhat outlandish theories about conspiracies within the Auror office to her long-held ambition to replace Lee as Hogwarts' Quidditch commentator, which Harry whole-heartedly encouraged. He had been afraid that the party would drag on forever, filled with self-important people being boring at great length, so he was surprised (and a little disappointed) when a rather tipsy Slughorn ended the fun and announced it was time for the students to return to their dorms.

* * *

He wasn't sure why he had insisted on walking Luna to the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower, although it was probably because of her recent run-ins with Slytherins bearing grudges. Yes, that was certainly it. There was no other reason he could have, surely.

"You know, Harry," she said vaguely as they reached the door, "that really was rather fun. Thank you for asking me."

He smiled.

"It was my pleasure, Luna," he said, and part of him was surprised to realise that he meant it.

To his astonishment, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Goodnight, Harry," she smiled, "be careful walking back to your common room. The castle is cold enough at night for Venomous Snowbats to venture inside."

He couldn't form a coherent sentence; he was too busy willing himself to not blush. So instead he hugged her tightly and turned around to walk away. He looked back before he turned the corner, and saw her talking to the doorknocker.

"What is happiness?" it asked.

She paused for a moment, and then replied with a question of her own.

"Who is asking?"

The doorknob chucked, the door swung open, and she stepped inside.

Harry had to work very hard not to skip all the way back to Gryffindor Tower, and he wasn't entirely sure why.

* * *

**A/N: Luna… door… door… Luna… MUST. RESIST. TEMPTATION. **

…**whoops…**

**So there you go. I made y'all wait eighteen chapters for a peck on the cheek. I admit it, I'm a bastard. :P I'm not sure whether the **_**Good Omens**_** quote in the epigraph is more applicable to Ron and Hermione for being oblivious prats or to me for ship teasing so much!**

**New **_**Harry Potter and the Second War**_** chapter coming soon, I swear. I got a bit blocked.**


	19. Harry And Hermione Have A Heart-To-Heart

**Harry And Hermione Have A Heart-To-Heart**

_Truly, he thought, the way of enlightenment is like unto half a mile of broken glass._

Terry Pratchett – _Mort_

When Harry got back to the Gryffindor tower, the common room was empty except for Hermione, who was sitting on the sofa. She flinched when she heard him enter, and then sighed with relief.

"Sorry, Harry, I thought you were McLaggen."

"Really?" said Harry innocently. "I thought you'd be pleased to see him."

"Oh, stop. I only went with him to annoy Ron."

Harry flopped down on the sofa next to her.

"I know. Childish."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, what took you so long to get back?"

"Luna's had a few run-ins with Slytherins recently and Malfoy was on the prowl, so I walked her back to Ravenclaw tower."

Hermione smirked.

"Really? You just did it to protect her from someone who was last seen out of his dorm two hours ago and not because you enjoy her company?"

Harry could feel himself starting to blush.

"Well, yeah," he replied, "I like spending time with her. She's clever, and fun, and not currently engaged in trying to make another of my friends jealous."

He had hoped that the last part of that would distract her, but she had an all-too-familiar glint in her eye.

"So…" she began, with a forced casualness, "did you have fun at the party?"

"Yeah, it was cool to meet Gwenog Jones."

"And where did you disappear to with Luna halfway through?"

Harry explained to her about following Snape and Malfoy and what he and Luna had heard.

"Hmmm…" she said slowly, "it _does_ sound like Malfoy's up to something –"

"– not to mention Snape," he interjected.

"I'm not sure, Harry, he could have just been pretending to want to help Malfoy so he could find out what he's up to."

Harry shrugged, unwilling to get into an argument but certain there was more to it than that.

"So, Luna knows about the Cloak then? I'm glad you trust her."

Harry nodded, and asked Hermione about her plans for the holidays to change the subject. He wasn't in the mood to talk about his experience of sharing the Cloak with Luna. To his surprise, Hermione didn't pursue the subject and they had an enjoyable conversation about her family's proposed skiing trip to the Alps ("I didn't go last year so I thought I should at _least_ give it a try"). They were still talking when the portrait hole began to swing open.

"Quickly!" she hissed. "Give me the Cloak!"

He took it out of his pocket and tossed it to her. She had barely pulled it on when McLaggen climbed into the room, frowning slightly at the seemingly-empty seat next to Harry as if he had spotted movement in it but wasn't sure what he had seen.

"Seen Granger anywhere?" he grunted.

"I haven't," replied Harry politely, "I thought she was with you."

McLaggen shrugged.

"She slipped off somewhere. No matter, plenty more fish in the sea."

With that, he headed upstairs to the seventh-year dorm.

Harry tugged the Cloak off Hermione, chuckling at her mingled expression of relief and indignation, and the two of them went to bed, Harry still marvelling at having escaped being interrogated about Luna.

* * *

The next day, Harry and Ron boarded the Hogwarts Express to go home for the holidays. They got a compartment to themselves (Hermione was sitting with Neville, Ginny and Dean and Lavender had already ostentatiously said her goodbyes to Ron and had gone off to gossip with the Patil twins, both of whom had shot apologetic looks at Harry during Lavender's public display of affection) and were soon joined by Luna, who pulled out the latest issue of the _Quibbler_ and started doing the crossword. After a few minutes' conversation about Quidditch, Harry turned the conversation towards Filch interrupting the Slug Club party with Malfoy in tow. Luna put down her _Quibbler_ and leaned in towards the boys, and she and Harry told Ron what they had overheard the previous night. They spent most of the journey discussing what Malfoy might be plotting. An assassination attempt seemed likely, with Harry and Dumbledore as the obvious targets. They bounced around several other possible ideas, including the possibility that he was testing the school's security measures for somebody else (Harry refrained from explicitly saying Voldemort lest they get side-tracked onto arguing over whether or not Malfoy was actually a Death Eater). Like Hermione, Ron was intrigued by the mention of an Unbreakable Vow ("If you break it, you die. He must've been lying. Must've.") but unconvinced that Snape was actually plotting anything nefarious.

"Malfoy, though…" mumbled Ron through mouthful of Chocolate Frog, "is another matter."

"It's going to be hard to prove, though," sighed Harry, "we'd really need to catch him in the act, and I can't be everywhere at once."

"Well, you know, you don't _really_ need to do it all by yourself," said Luna quietly.

"I know you and Ron and Hermione will help, but even so…"

Luna smiled.

"You could always reactivate the DA."

Harry and Ron looked at her, thunderstruck. The idea hadn't even occurred to them.

"Y'know Luna, you're right," said Ron when he had recovered the power of speech, "I s'pose it's just that Harry and I – and Hermione –" here he frowned slightly, "have got used to doing this stuff on our own. A little help couldn't hurt though, could it?"

"Excellent!" beamed Luna, clapping her hands. "We're almost at the station now, so I'll go and ask Hermione to contact everyone. She still has the list of names, so she could owl people, and I'm not sure everyone is still checking their Galleons regularly."

"Umm, Hermione doesn't have an owl," said Ron.

"That's alright then, she can give them to me. Daddy has an owl," replied Luna serenely. "Oh, I did have one question, Ronald. Do you think I could come over to your house to visit during the holidays? I would rather like to see you all and I have some things I may need your help with in terms of dealing with Snape."

Ron nodded.

"I'll ask Mum, but it shouldn't be a problem. Harry can owl you to let you know."

She beamed again and thanked him before turning to Harry.

"Hopefully I will see you soon," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

"Yeah, see you, Luna," he said, trying not to look embarrassed or awkward.

She was barely out of the compartment when Ron leaned forward with a smirk.

"So… you and Luna, eh?"

"What do you mean?" said Harry hastily. "She's a friend, that's all."

"Yeah, a friend that kisses you on the cheek to say goodbye. She's not French, for Merlin's sake! Look, she's a bit strange, but if you like her I'm not gonna stop you. Actually, if you need any tips…"

That last part was a bit rich, Harry thought, and he was about to retort when he realised that his best friend was struggling not to laugh, so he plumped for repeating that he and Luna were just friends.

"Really, mate? You've got it bad, I can tell. Besides, how can you deny it when you spent most of the journey holding hands?"

As they pulled into the station, Harry worked hard to cover his surprise. In part, he was surprised that he hadn't realised he had been holding Luna's hand. He was more surprised, however, at the fact that he didn't care what Ron or anyone else thought about it.


	20. A Couple Of Christmas Conundrums: Part 1

**A Couple Of Christmas Conundrums: Part One**

"_It's supposed to be jolly, with mistletoe and holly… and other things ending in olly."_

Terry Pratchett – _Hogfather_

When Harry was getting off the Hogwarts Express in King's Cross, a thought struck him. Looking around wildly, he saw Hermione's bushy hair in the distance and ran over to where she was greeting her parents. She raised a quizzical eyebrow when she saw him approaching.

"Listen, I only have a second, but you have an owl-order catalogue for Flourish and Blotts, right?"

Hermione nodded.

"Can I borrow it? There's… something I need to get."

Hermione pulled it out of her bag, smirking.

"Need to get a Christmas present for someone?" she asked. "A Ravenclaw, perhaps? After all, it needs to be somebody intellectual enough for your first instinct to be to get them a book, and I would _hope_ that you'd have the good sense not to ask me for my catalogue so you can buy me a present."

"Yeah, fine, it's for Luna," he replied, rolling his eyes, "enjoy the holidays!"

"I will," she said, giving him a knowing look, "and I have a feeling you will too."

* * *

The benefit of staying at the Burrow – aside from Mrs Weasley's cooking and the fact that he got to spend the holidays with his friends – was that there were often Order members passing through. On the morning after Harry's arrival, Tonks dropped in for a cup of tea and a chat with Mr Weasley about some private Order business, and Mrs Weasley convinced her to stay for lunch. They were just sitting down to a spread of salad and sandwiches when Lupin arrived. It seemed that Mrs Weasley had also invited him to lunch, although he appeared surprised to see Tonks there. Harry was more than happy to see the former Marauder, however, he was soon engaged in a cheerful discussion with Lupin and the twins about the sixth-year DADA curriculum and non-verbal spells. As the conversation petered out, he noticed that for some reason an awkward silence had descended among the adults, but before he could ponder this, Ron spoke up, asking whether Luna could come to visit over the holidays.

"Of course, dear," was Mrs Weasley's response, "but why this Christmas in particular? You've never shown any real interest in her before."

She was looking at her son curiously.

"Well," said Ron, through a mouthful of ham-and-cheese sandwich, "she needs our help with something to do with the story her dad ran about Snape being a git. And besides, we've all become better friends since… since last June. And Harry's been getting on _very_ well with her over the past while."

The twins turned as one, looking at Harry with matching expressions of predatory glee.

"Oh, does this mean our esteemed business-partner is finding twoo wuv?" asked Fred with a smirk.

"She's a good friend," replied Harry shortly, "and speaking of our business partnership, it has come to my attention that certain Gryffindor girls in fourth and fifth year have been buying your Love Potions in the hope of snaring me. _Try_ and be more careful about who you're selling them to in future."

Everyone in the room looked at Ginny, who glared back. Harry chuckled.

"Nope, Ginny was neither my source nor one of the purchasers."

She flicked a piece of scrunched-up parchment across the table at him. He caught it two inches from his nose, grateful for his Seeker's reflexes.

"You know," began Lupin carefully, "it mightn't be too clever to start attacking Severus in the media. I'm not his biggest fan myself, but Dumbledore trusts him and must have a good reason for giving him the job."

"Doesn't matter," replied Harry, "he can't be let get away with bullying his students. You saw the way he treated Neville when you worked in Hogwarts."

Tonks had been silent throughout the meal, but now she piped up, looking curiously at Harry.

"When you're talking about Luna, would this be a blonde girl? Slightly ditzy?"

Ron snorted and muttered something about 'slightly' not being the half of it.

"Yeah, she mentioned meeting you."

"I remember her vaguely," added Lupin, "Ravenclaw in Ginny's year, isn't she? Quite bright, in her own way, but she always seemed a little away with the fairies."

"She seemed pretty lucid to me," said Tonks, "_and_ she was with Harry last June."

"She… has her moments," interjected Harry, "she's… baffling. She can go from being completely dreamy and disconnected from what's going on around her to making an observation that's bang on about whatever's going on in the space of a few seconds. She's quite confusing sometimes, but she's great. She's fun, and clever, and brave, and a loyal friend."

For some reason, Mrs Weasley's eyes seemed to soften as he said this.

It was arranged that Luna would come to visit on Christmas Eve, so Harry sent Hedwig with a note for her immediately after lunch. Then he pulled out Hermione's owl-order catalogue and browsed through it, looking for inspiration. After a few minutes' searching, he found the perfect gift for Luna: _A Magizoological Guide to the British Isles._ Judging by the blurb, it was full of information on rare and possibly non-existent magical creatures, drawing on both academic and folkloric sources. It wasn't cheap, but that meant that hopefully Luna wouldn't have already read it, and he knew it would be perfect for her, so when Hedwig arrived back with a reply from Luna he gave her a brief rest before sending her off again with money and his order. Lupin, who had been watching him with a slight smile, sat down beside him when he was done, and Mr Weasley joined them.

"So…" said Lupin, "a good friend, then, this Luna? I'm just curious, because you've never really mentioned her before."

"I know she's been friends with Ginny for years," added Mr Weasley, "but I didn't know you knew her particularly well."

"She was one of the few people in Hogwarts who believed me last year, and she and Hermione arranged that interview I did with Skeeter. She was in the DA and she stood by me when hardly anyone else did. And this year I've got to know her better, with the whole Snape thing and so on. She's been great, and I can talk to her about… stuff."

Lupin frowned slightly.

"Surely you can talk to your oldest friends about what's bothering you?"

Mr Weasley nodded.

"Yeah, I do," said Harry, "it's just… she can see Thestrals too, you know? She saw her mum die when she was just nine. She understands stuff like that. And she hears me out about Snape and Malfoy."

"What about Snape and Malfoy?" asked Lupin curiously.

Harry quickly explained about his suspicions. Unsurprisingly, both men were somewhat skeptical about Snape's potential for treachery, although the revelation that Malfoy had been boasting of his connection to Fenrir Greyback made Lupin frown.

"Greyback is a werewolf," he explained, "and a monster. My work for the Order has largely involved trying to prevent my fellows from following him into an alliance with Voldemort, lured by promises of freedom and acceptance. It's dangerous work: Greyback is a psychopath who positions himself near children on nights with a full moon so that he can turn them and then raise them away from wizards where he can brainwash them. It was Greyback who bit me in revenge for my father having slighted him. If Draco _is_ working with him, then he could be a Death Eater. On the other hand, he might have just been lying to impress Borgin."

He looked even more careworn than usual, and Harry decided to change the subject, asking him whether he would be visiting again over the holidays.

"I _had_ planned to look in on Christmas Eve," he replied, nodding towards Mr Weasley, "and now I'm certain I will. I would quite like to renew my acquaintance with Miss Lovegood, it only seems right since I already know most of your other close friends."

Harry smiled. It was touching to realise that Remus wanted to be a father-figure of sorts towards him since Sirius' death, and it meant a lot to know that somebody else was taking an interest in what he did. Up until now, he'd only had Mr and Mrs Weasley, who he hadn't wanted to bother because they had enough to be getting on with, and, while he was alive, Sirius, who had been on the run but had done his best.

* * *

The following day was the day before Christmas Eve, and the Burrow was bustling with activity. Ginny and the twins were in the living-room putting up decorations, while Bill and Fleur worked on the hall. Harry and Ron were helping Mr Weasley with the tree while Mrs Weasley started cooking, or rather Harry was helping Mr Weasley while Ron tried to ignore the twins' teasing about Lavender. Harry couldn't help but notice that Ron's father just watched the scene unfold with a rather indulgent smile. He supposed it was a rite of passage in a big family, being teased about your first girlfriend or boyfriend by your older siblings. As he finished with the tinsel and tried to brush the inevitable little shiny scraps off his clothes, Fred turned to him with a devilish grin and added that as Harry spent the most time of all of them with Ron, he surely must have suffered the most from the latter "making eyes at Miss Divination Brown". Before he knew it, he was joining in wholeheartedly with the teasing, only pausing for breath when he realised that Hedwig was tapping on the window impatiently. He let her into the room and she dropped the owl-order package in his hand, nibbled his ear affectionately and flew off upstairs to her cage.

Ron smiled widely.

"What's that, mate?" he asked in a mock-innocent voice. "Owl-order package, is it? Buying a present for Luna, then? You've reached that point?"

Fred and George, like sharks scenting blood in the water, homed in on their new target.

"Really, Harry?" smirked George. "It's moving fast, then? I suppose, with Ron pulling a blonde and all, you must've felt a bit jealous and wanted one of your own. It's understandable. The question is, have you told Peeves yet? He needs a new song-and-dance routine and I'm sure he could work up something juvenile-but-catchy about Potty and Loony if you gave him half a chance."

Harry sighed.

"Yeah, he's working on it," he muttered.

The room exploded into laughter. Harry looked to Mr Weasley for moral support but the latter just chuckled and winked as the teasing continued.

_Oh well_, said Harry to himself, _I suppose this is what it feels like to have a family of sorts_.

* * *

**A/N: This is the first of four instalments covering the period from December 21-24. Two are from Harry's POV, one is from Luna's POV and one is from the perspective of a character who hasn't had a chapter to themselves yet.**


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